Home at Last

Well, we are finally home.  We have been in Utah for the last Ten days.  Tom had a two week break in school, and so we headed for Utah.  The whole point of this trip was actually for Tom to go and shadow some chiropractors, which he did, and he had a lot of success.  I think that he met with 9 in all, spread our between Logan and Sandy.  Not bad, seeing as we were only there for one business week.

Anyway, we had a great time in Utah.  This was the first time that we have actually drive the 12 hour trek since Owen was 4 weeks old, so we were a bit apprehensive about the drive.  Tom decided that it would be a good idea to leave a 3:00 am, so that the Boy would sleep through a good portion of the drive.  It worked, Owen did not wake up until we were almost to Ontario Oregon (about half way).  And he only got supper fussy once, right out side of Twin Falls, so we decided to stop and have a look at the rather large hole in the ground at Twin Falls.

Here we hare at the Twin Fall Gorge.  Apparently Evel Knievel once attempted to jump this on his motorcycle, but he did not make it.  Too Bad.

  

This guy took the picture for us (seriously, I balanced the camera on his head).

We spent the firs couple of days in Cache Valley with Tom's family.  It just so happened to be everybody's Spring Break so all of Tom's sibling's families where there.  It was great to see everyone.

  

WE were lucky enough to see almost everybody on my side too.  The only one missing was my big brother Josh, but his wife kids where in there, which was great!  I even got to meet my newest nephew CJ.  He is so cute.  Man, was it fun to see everyone.

  

We really got to see everyone on this trip, even some good friends.  I had my roommate party, which was lots of fun.  And we were able to hang out with one of Tom's best buds, Bill Swann and go to one of his other buddy Patrick's baby blessing.  We also got to meet up with the Reynolds, our good friends from WSCC.  They moved down to Salt Lake in at Shaun finished school last October...lucky.

So, all in all, we had a pretty great trip.  We did a lot, we saw a lot, we drove a lot (we put 1300 miles on the car), and Tom met a lot of Chiropractors.  It was a great trip, but boy it is nice to be home.

Best Roommateship Ever

I had a lot of awesome roommates during my college years. Most of them I can honestly say that I absolutely loved. But there where two years, and three roommates that I will for ever adore. Megan, Malorie, Elyse, and I lived together at Andersen Apartments from 2004 to 2006. If you where to ask any of us, we would tell you that we were the best "roommateship" you could ever find. Not to say that we don't love other roommates that we have had, it is just that the there was something about the chemistry between the four of us. Maybe it is that we all got along so great, maybe it was because we had so much fun, maybe it was because we experienced soooo many things together. But what ever it was, there is something that has bounded us four on a forever deep level.

Last Tuesday, we all happened to be in Logan Utah, the home of Utah State University, and all our favorite roommate memories. This has not happened in almost 4 years, so naturally, we had the best roommate get together ever. We laughed, we cried, we reminised, we caught up, we dreamed, and then we laughed some more. I can honestly say that I love these ladies to death and back again. They are like sisters to me, and I am so greatful that I have them in my lives. I just think that we need to do these get togethers A LOT more often.

Funny Hair Cut Up-Date

It has now been one week since I cut Owen's hair, and Tom has yet to notice. However, I have some funny stories involving Owen's hair cut and Thomas.

Friday afternoon (the day after the hair cut), shortly after Tom's last final finished, he called to let me know he was gonig over to have Melica (his hair cutting friend) give him a trim. He wanted me to bring over the Boy, so that he too could get a cut. Here is our conversation:

Me: "I don't think that he needs his hair cut right now."
Tom: "You sure? Isn't it getting pretty long?"
Me: "No, I think that is ok?"
Tom: "Ok, but we are going to Utah for a week, and it will be really long by the end."
Me: "It is ok, really he will be fine.... Have you ready my blog lately?"
Tom: "No, what does you blog have to do with the Boy's hair needing to be cut anyway?"

Even after that, he did not bother taking the time to read my blog.

A couple of days later, we at his parent's house in Utah, and his sister is cuting her son's hair. Tom looks at them, and says, "Hmmm, Rosie, isn't it about time we do that?" His mom then pipes up, "Tom haveyou read your wife's blog lately?"

Still, he did not read it.

Yesturday, Owen was crawling around my parents house, and Tom was playing with him. Tom stops what he is doing looks up and says, "Man, I never noticed before, but Melica did a HORRIBLE job on Owen's hair the last time she cut it. Look how crooked it is in the back."

My sister-in-law and I could not stop laughing. I swear I almost slit my side open. And yet, Tom could not figure out what was so funny about his poor son having such an uneven hair cut.

13 Months, 14 Hair Cuts

You know that old saying that kids grow like

weeds.  Well it is true, but Owen's case, his hair grows like a weed on steroids.  

He was born with 2 inches of the blackest hair I had ever seen.  At 6 weeks old, he had his first hair cut.  Tomorrow Owen will be 13 months old, and I just gave him his 14th hair cut.  Tom does not know that I did this.  

Tom is very picky about the way his hair is cut.  I once attempted to cut his hair, and I did not do it right, so he had to get his friend from school (for was a hair dresser before a chiropractic student) to fix it.  Ever since then he has not let me touch his hair, nor Owen's.  I am not so sure why he does not want me to cut Owen's, he just claims it is easier to have Milika cut both of theirs at the same time.

So tonight, as I as giving Owen 

his bath, I notices how long his hair was looking.  

It was so long that it was almost covering his eyes, and growing over the tops of his ears. I swear he had more hair than most 3 year old girls do.  So I thought it would be a good idea to give him a little trim while he was in the bath.  

Cutting a squirmy little kid's

hair is not so easy.   Have you ever made a scrapbook page, and just kept doing things to it, you never knew quite when to stop, and when it was all done you stepped back and looked at it as though "O man, I should have stopped when I was ahead?"  Well, that is exactly how it was cutting his hair.  I just kept cutting, and cutting, and cutting.  When I finally finished, I looked at him and thought, "Oh no, Tom is not going to be happy."  Look at this picture, you can see how crooked it is in the back (although, I must say the front looks good).

But after I got him dried off, and dressed, I got to get a good look at it, I don't think it looks so bad.  In fact, I wonder if Tom will even notice that I cut it.

Things to do in Portland

For some reason the question of "What is there to do in Portland?" has come up a lot in the past few days. So I have decided to make a list of activities to do, things to see, and places to eat, in the general Portland area. If you have any thing to add, please leave a comment, and let me know.

Things to do in Portland:
• Washington Park
-Japanese Garden
-Children’s museum

-Zoo
-International Rose Test Garden

-Hoyt Arboretum
-World Forestry Discovery Museum
• Portland Gardens
-International Test Rose Garden
-The Japanese Garden
-The Classical Chinese Garden
-The Peninsula Park Rose Garden
-Crystal Spring Rhododendron Gardens

-The Portland Memory Garden
-Leach Botanical Gardens
-Mill's End Park
• The Grotto

• Portland LDS Temple

• Pittock Mansion
• Take a ride on the Portland Spirit
• Willamette Speedboat Cruse
• OMSI
• Saturday Market

• Shop NE 23rd Ave
• Walk the Waterfront
• Play in fountains Down Town
• Shop Laurelhurst District (SE 39th Ave)
• Berry Picking
• Rocky Butte/Powell Butte/Mount Tabor
• Kelly Point
• Columbia Gorge
-Historic Highway
-Larch Mountain

-Bridge of the Gods

-Bonneville Dam

-Punch Bowl Falls (these are the falls in the Temple Movie)

• Drive Mt. Hood Highway
-Timberline Lodge
-Hood River Valley
• Silver Falls


Places to Eat in Portland:
• Portland City Grill $$$ Fine Dining Portland
• Salty’s $$$$ Seafood Portland
• Roadhouse Grill $$ Steak house Gresham
• Calamity Jane’s $ Burgers Sandy
• Carol’s Corner Café $ Breakfast Vancouver WA
• Voodoo Doughnuts $ Doughnuts Portland

• iL Piatto $$ Italian Portland

• Marrakesh $$$ Moroccan Portland

Things to do at Coast:
• Astoria

-Goonies Tour
-Maritime Museum
-Dine at Pier 51
-Go to Longview Beach (on Washington Side)
-Visit Longview Kite Museum
• Sea Side
-Drive on beach
-Visit beach
-Shop at outlet mall
-Visit/shop Broadway St
• Cannon Beach
-Visit/shop Hemlock St
-Visit Beach
-Eat at Lumberyard $$ Steak/Seafood
• Tillamook
-Cheese factory
-Eat at Roadhouse $$ Steak House
• Linclon City
-Visit beach

• NewPort

-Whale watch
-Deep-sea fish
-Oregon Coast Aquarium

-Buy fresh fish

- Yaquina Head State Park and TIDE POOLS - a must!

"Life is smoother with 'Thank You's'"

Today was ward conference, so the Stake Primary Presidency taught Sharing Time.  They did the cutest lesson about Mother's, and talked about how much mom's do to serve their families.  At the end they had the kids write Thank You notes to their mom's.  One of the kids asked if they had.  The Stake Primary President simply replied, "No, you don't, but your mom doesn't have to do all the things she does for you either. I think Life is smoother with 'Thank You's.'"  

Holy Cow, I love what she said.  I think I am going to adopt this as my new motto.  Everyone could hear "Thank You" a little more often, and we could all show gratitude a lot more then we do.  My sister-in-law, Sarah, keeps a Gratitude Journal on her blog.  She occasionally will post about something, or someone, she is grateful for.  What a great example.  I think that I am going to start doing this.  

Today, I am grateful for my calling, and all the simple life lessons I learn in Primary. 

Fun with Bill, Moana, and Liam

Tom's brother Bill and his family came to visit last week.  It was so much fun having them around.  I love it when people come to visit us.  It gives us an excuse to go and appreciate all the cool things here are here in Oregon.

First thing first, my sister-in-law loves the 

Ocean, infact that is what her name, Moana 

means in the Mauri language.  So going to the coast was on the top of our To Do List.  The weather that day was crazy that day, it would be sunny and warm on minute, then hailing the next.  It just so happened to be snowing as we drove through the pass, so I snapped this picture.

When we got to Cannon Beach, the sun was shining, and it was beautiful out, so we headed toward the Ocean.  

Of course Tom and Bill found some kelp, and decided that it would make great whip.  I swear these two will always be little boys stuck in adult bodies. 

 

 

Like I said, the weather 

was crazy that day, and it

 started to down pour on us.  

Which made for  some very cold, sad little boys, and some very awesome pictures.

Here are the boys at the beach.

The day after our adventures to the coast, we decided to things that were more local to Portland.

  We attempted to go to the Japanese Garden's but the boy's fell asleep in the car on the way there.  So I stayed in the car while Bill and Moana went and checked out the gardens.

Later that day we had dinner at Salty's, one of the best seafood restaurants in Portland.  My, my was it tasty, probably the best sea food I have ever had; and it has an amazing view.   It was good, and it was fun, but it was pricy too.  It is definitely a good Special Occasion Spot though.

We also went swimming while they were here. Apparently, Bill and Moana convinced Liam to coming on this trip by 

telling him he could go swimming at the 

 pool Cousin Owen had his birthday party at. 

All-in-all, we had a great time with them, and can't wait from them to come back up to visit!