Memorial Weekend on the Coast

Our wonderful friends the Zollinger's invited us to spend Memorial weekend out on the coast in an amazing beach house for a couple of nights and although it meant the fourth weekend in a row that we have been out of town, (hence my lack of blogging) we of course were thrilled to have some play time in friendly Depoe Bay! The fabulous 2-story, 3 bedroom, 3 bath beach house came fully equipped with everything you could possibly need including a 60 inch big screen T.V. The highlights of the trip included...

1. We stuck all of the kids in the jacuzzi tub, turned on the jets, added some bubbles and sat back and laughed at how cute they were. They looked like adults sitting in a hot tub because the water came up to their shoulders.
2. Cari and I got to watch a chick flick on the big screen after all the kids went to sleep. I would recommend P.S. I Love You, it totally made me appreciate my husband more!
3. We of course went and played on the beach. Corbin and Dustin got soaked and had a blast throwing sand and jumping into every vat of water they could find.
4. We tried to build our own bon fire, but failed miserably and commandeered someone else's fire and marshmallow sticks after they left. Hey, at least we're resourceful! We had some pretty darn good s'mores on those sticks!
   
5. Cari made my favorite bean soup with fried tortillas for lunch before we left. The perfect end to a perfect weekend!

So a big thank you to Cari and Jason for a great time. We were so grateful to have some time to hang out with them and let the kids play.
Some other things that I wanted to post were that Liz stared crawling and is officially into everything. Dustin is talking like crazy and my favorite thing he says right now is, "whasup dude." I ran the Rhody Run in Florence 2 weeks ago and got 2nd in the 5k in my age group. Thanks to Brian and Ann for hosting us that weekend also. (We have the best freinds. I mean it. All of you are so awesome and mean the world to us) Tim is an official biker because he bought a jacket and rode the bike the long way to Florence and back again and got to do the "biker wave" to all the bikers in Florence. For those of you who don't know, I guess there's a special wave that only bikers give each other on the road. I hope I'm not violating some sacred biker code by disclosing that. Anyway, all is well and we're safe and sound after our many adventures!

Vacation Baby!!!

For those of you who don't already know, we went on vacation last week to St. George and it was awesome!!! Dustin was so excited to fly on a plane, he could hardly wait to board and kept pointing to the plane saying, "go....plane....fly". But right before we were about to board, apparently a check valve light indicated that we would be delayed for 5 HOURS!!!! So our trip kinda got off on the wrong foot because we were stuck at the Eugene airport with a screaming baby for a long time. But we finally did board, Dustin slept the whole way to Las Vegas and Liz was super happy. (I think she got all her screaming out at the airport) We stayed at Tim's parents house which is really fun because they have a big play room, a swim pool, big screen, all the fun stuff. So the kids were totally entertained even if we were just hanging around the house. The highlight of St. George was taking the kids up to Zion and going on a hike where you can stand underneath a waterfall. So pretty and both the kids loved it! The weather was perfect, not too hot, and the sun hit the rocks at just the right angle. Zion is one of those places where you feel so grateful to Heavenly Father for the beauty he created. A highlight for me was that my mother-in-law also gave me and the kids tons of new clothes which is always exciting because she has really good taste. Then I left my cute little family to go to my best friends wedding in Phoenix. So I hopped on a plane from Vegas and finally got to see my Kimmy!! It was so fun to see her again and it felt like we had never been apart. I was the only one out of the bridal party who was married, so it felt like I was living with roommates for the weekend. I forgot what it was like to borrow your girlfriends clothes, put on makeup everyday, or go out to eat at like 10:00 pm! I'm so used to sippy cups, diapers, boogers, and unwashed hair, I think I forgot that I clean up semi-cute (after tanning, showering, and taking time to put on make-up...it's not like it happens naturally!!!) I missed my family terribly, but it was a breath of fresh air to take a little break. I got to go to Kim's graduation, and although the speakers were kinda well, like graduation speakers, it was super neat to see her in her grad outfit and her little diploma. It made me think of high school graduation, and I was so proud of her. Then we got to hang out with the girls, and had some "girl talk" which is always fun. The day before the wedding, we laid out by the pool and went swimming, had In n' Out Burgers and milkshakes, went wakeboarding at one of the most beautiful lakes I've ever seen, went out to Mexican food for dinner, hung out in the hot tub, painted each other's toenails, and finally went to sleep. Can you imagine a more perfect day!!!! I was able to get up on the wakeboard twice, and did a few face plants that everyone still seemed to be talking about the next day. Kim's wedding of course was amazing. The sealing was beautiful, and the Mesa temple is really unique and pretty. Kim looked gorgeous, her hubby is awesome, and the day went really smoothly. I got to get my hair done with Kim, which we haven't done since high school, and she had the most amazing luncheon ever. Her husband is half Mexican and his Mom put on the best tasting Mexican food I've ever had. The reception was at an amazing golf clubhouse that was really beautiful especially while the sun set. A really perfect day. It was so great to see all her family again. They kind of feel like my family in a way since I spent so much time with them growing up. Then I had to say my goodbye's and hop back on a plane to Vegas where Tim was staying with the kids, and then we all got up to get on a plane to come back home the next day!!! Whew! All in all, amazing trip, but 3 days was definitely long enough to be away from my hubby and kids.