Easter 2016

We took a quick trip to Boise for my friend Chris's wedding over Easter weekend. Chris and I met in college, he was in my x-ray program. Chris, our friend Cara and I drove to Las Vegas for our student x-ray conference. While we were there I met Trent and I thought he was really cute. Chris had a little bit of a crush on one of our teachers, and one of the nights we were there he wanted to go to a party where our teacher was. I found out that Trent was going to to the Knights of the Round table show at Excalibur, so I convinced Chris and Cara to come with me. Chris wasn't very excited about it, but he went with me anyway. That night Trent and I stayed up all night talking, and now we have been married for almost 8 years! :)

It was so nice to catch up with all of these friends I haven't seen in so many years. A lot of them were there when Trent and I got engaged. Chris coordinated with Trent to make sure we were at the Venetian at the right time, Megan and Nikke did my hair and dressed me up that night (while I had no idea what was going on). And they were all there to take pictures and watch when I said yes! They will always mean a lot to me because of that.

 It was great to catch up hear about their jobs, spouses and children. Congratulations Chris!

Since it was Easter weekend, we met a few friends at Ann Morrison park for an Easter egg hunt. I thought Mason would only be interested in picking up one or two eggs. But we told him what to do and he went for it. He was an egg hunting machine.

This is Addie, she is our friend Christine and Geoff's daughter. Christine was my roommate in college. She and Mason made a good team.

Our friends Joel and Dez brought their daughter Hadley. She has the cutest, chubbiest cheeks I've ever seen!!

We also got to see Grandpa Brad (Boompa) and Grandma and Grandma Russell. Brad introduced Mason to their horse Shaz. He even helped Mason sit on the horse!! Mason was so excited. He talked about it all day. (I sit on horsie!!)

A rainy week in Forks

Trent has dreamed about fishing on the Olympic Peninsula since...forever. We are only a few hours drive from it now, so he planned a fishing trip with our friend Mike from Utah. Mike was our real estate agent, and the day we were closing on our house they found out that they both love fishing. They've gone on many fishing trips since. Mike and his wife Chelsea flew up with their two little girls, Roslyn and Isla, and we drove up to Forks, Washington. The guys had planned on fishing for two days while the wives hiked with the kids. We have had a very rainy winter and early spring, and the rivers are full of water and moving very quickly. Trent and Mike were really worried that they wouldn't be able to fish at all. Luckily they were able to go out; it was less than ideal conditions but they made the best of it and Trent even caught a fish!

Hiking with all of our little people. They did pretty well for how far we went. We hiked to Second Beach, which is in the La Push area. It's an out and back hike to the beach. On the way in all of the kids loved it, they crawled in all of the trees and had a great time.

This is Second Beach. We couldn't get across all of the driftwood to actually walk on the beach, so we just looked at it from the trail.

As soon as we turned around to hike back, all three kids decided to have a melt down. We did lots of carrying and coaxing to get them back to the car. Their timing was impeccable. 

Even though it rained (the whole time, downpour) we just put jackets on the kids and went to the beach anyway. That's what you do in the Pacific Northwest!! This is First Beach (all very creatively named) on the La Push reservation. It is where the Sol Duc river empties into the Pacific Ocean. We saw two sea lions and a few bald eagles. 

The sunset was beautiful!

The driftwood that washes up is enormous, this was an entire tree! Not a small one either. 

This is the end of the Sol Duc river. 

Finally, we stopped at Ruby beach on our way home. We had a great time with Mike and Chelsea in such a beautiful place. 

We are finally feeling a little more settled in our new home. It was a big transition moving from Utah, and we still miss all of our Idaho and Utah friends. Washington and Oregon are beautiful states and there is a lot to explore, and we are very ready for spring and summer! We have gone to Multnomah falls a few times, but it is such an impressive view each time. It has rained so much this winter that the falls are roaring. 

We have recently found a new hike along LaCamas Creek. There is a 6 mile trail system that runs along the creek and to LaCamas lake. Mason is becoming quite the hiker, and he loves waterfalls. He is always asking to go see the waterfall. 

We took my parents when they came to visit for spring break. 

Auntie time

My sister came to visit us for a weekend. Mason was sooo happy to spend a few days with his Aunt Lizzie. They have so much fun together. We watched movies, took a trip to Cannon beach and visited my favorite ice cream shop (Salt and Straw in Portland. So delicious and worth every calorie). It was great to see Liz and show her around our new city.


Movies and popcorn...

Beautiful Cannon Beach. So far this is our favorite place to visit on the coast. The beach is so smooth and open, Haystack rock is beautiful and you can bring your dog. I want to bring Kona someday, but she loves water so much I'm a little worried that she'll never come back!!

 Haystack Rock.

Mason is two!

This post is a little delayed, but Mason turned two on February 3rd! 

To celebrate a few of our friends, including his favorite friend Carmendy, took him on a train ride in Portland the weekend before his birthday. He was so thrilled to get to ride on an actual train.

Then we went back to our house and had pizza and cupcakes.

On his actual birthday we went out for frozen yogurt with Carmendy. 

He was so spoiled this year and got all kinds of cool presents. Every time I walked outside there was an Amazon box on our front step. One of his favorite gifts was a Thomas the Tank Engine tent from our friends Thomas and Lindsey in Utah. I can't get him out of it.



Sometimes playing in the tent tuckers him out.

Mason's favorite things are driving his toy cars and trucks on any surface that will hold still, reading books with Mom (our current favorites are The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Goodnight Goodnight Construction Sight) and singing along to the Beatles. (No joke) He has a very impressive appetite, he loves to dance around the living room and the dogs are his best buddies. He likes the movie Cars, Finding Nemo and Inside Out and his favorite TV shows are Thomas the Tank Engine and Daniel Tiger. One of his favorite things to do is hike with mom and dad, he loves being outside and has turned into a pretty good hiker. He is a happy, friendly little boy who says hi to everyone who walks by at the grocery store. We sure love this little guy.