We left at 2:17am. August 19th. The boys were happy to stay with Ong Noi and Ba Noi, but Ava came along for the ride. She was such a trooper. I won't say it was easy to drive with an 18 month old baby, but she really did do pretty well. No major breakdowns and no puking, so that's good. To say it was a long drive is an understatement. It was 13 hours of driving (including breaks) we saw some beautiful country. Much of Oregon is absolutely gorgeous but most of Idaho and Utah were pretty desolate. But Ava was quick to make sure I was on my toes. We arrived around 2 pm (we gained an hour with the time change) and took our things to the hotel, which was located right in downtown Portland, right up my alley! I love the hustle and bustle of warm city nights. So we walked down the street to eat then out to Lake Oswego where a small party was going on at a family friends, the Bills (breathtakingly beautiful, waterfront) home.
Some of you may know this already, but my Dad is in a band. Yeah. My Dad is pretty cool for an old guy. The band also made the trek to Oregon to play at the party and at the wedding luncheon. I always enjoy being a groupie for my Dad (and Aunt Denise and Uncle Ted, who make up the other 1/2 the band). It was a perfect night for some live music, good food and good company.
Yup, that's my Dad.
Ava was pretty happy to be out of the car. And honestly so were we!
Duc took a Kayak out to the Lake (this is just the canal leading to the Lake) I wanted to, but was too much of a sissy I was wearing white pants... so ya know.
It was the first time in a long time that all of us siblings have been together in one place. We had a lot of fun just chatting and catching up.
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| Emily & Austin |
I couldn't stop taking pictures, I could have stayed there all night! And the house is just as breathtaking as the property it is on. We sat by the water all evening munching goodies and chatting. Ava loved the ducks that came strolling along looking for handouts. It almost made us forget that we had driven 13 hours that day. It was relaxing and the prefect end to a LONG day. (if you look down the canal you can see Lindsay and her BFF Megan (whose house it is) kayaking home.
BFF's!!
We had no problem sleeping after the party so we could get up early and head to the Temple for the wedding in the morning. Even Ava slept pretty easily. The ceremony was beautiful and heartwarming. While we waited for the newlyweds to walk out, flowers were handed out and we enjoyed the beautiful temple grounds. And it was absolutely beautiful. There couldn't have been a better day for a wedding.
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| (no I did not take this picture... although one day I'll be this good :D) credit |
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| My Mom and Grandpa Dale pinning flowers. |
It was so wonderful to have so much family there to enjoy the events of the day. And I realized there aren't many pictures of my Grandparents. I really wanted to have some pictures of them. They are wonderful people and I want some images to go along with the stories I will tell my children one day.
Above is my Mom's Mom, my Grandma Krista. Below is Mom's Dad Grandpa Dale... I love these guys!
Ava was happy as long as Mommy or Daddy was holding her.
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| All five siblings!! LtoR Emily (#1) Me (#2) Lindsay (the baby) Austin (#3) and Jared (#4) |
Mr & Mrs Turner
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| We are so glad Jared chose such a wonderful wife to be our new sister! |
Their faces say it all. These poor babies were sleepy! But aren't their dresses CUTE!? My Mom made all the little girls dresses and the guys ties. All the kiddos looked so cute! Unfortunately I had a camera malfunction (I left my memory card in my laptop at home :0( ) for the UT reception so I didn't get a picture of all the kiddos looking oh so darling and dashing, bummer.
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| Emily & Sophie |
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| Sophie Jane |
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| Look at those baby blues! |
After the wedding luncheon back at the Bills house, everyone (except us) drove 2 hours up to Spring Field for the Oregon Reception. We stayed behind along with Austin at the Bills and they took us out onto Lake Oswego on their boat. Unfortunately it was a super busy day and all the waves made me nauseous :0( boo. It was so fun while it lasted though. I didn't dare take my camera out on the boat, so you are going to have to imagine a gorgeous lake surrounded my multi-million dollar homes, gorgous trees, peppered with boats full of people :0)
Once we left there, we headed back to Portland to eat. Duc was in heaven with all the fresh seafood. I loved being able to walk all over downtown. We ate, walked around and thought about which one of the 100's of food trucks we were going to visit the next day then watched a car literally burst into flames on the side of the road, guess that's what happens when there are no laws or regulations for safety on vehicles in Oregon. (Once again I was sans camera because I left it back in the hotel room.) And once again we had no trouble sleeping that night either. I think that is the best night's sleep I have ever had at a hotel, ever. The bed and pillows were like clouds.
Ava was getting up at her UT time which meant she was waking up at 6:30am. I knew Duc was tired so we tried to tiptoe around the room and were successful for a couple hours, then Ava was getting tired again so I woke Duc up and put Ava on the bed to watch cartoons while I did my Make-up and Duc showered. After about 15 minutes I realized she hadn't climbed off the bed to terrorize yet, which is rare for this tiny terror. She isn't a big fan of TV. I turned around and found this...
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| Poor thing was so tired she literally fell over fast asleep. I guess she liked the pillows too :P |
Then we headed over to the Portland Children's museum then on to the Portland Zoo. We had big plans of visiting all around Washington Park, which includes some beautiful gardens and memorials along with the zoo and the museum, but we were just so tired by now. We felt like we had crammed a weeks' worth of stuff into 2 1/2 days. And we knew we had a long drive the next day. So we sort of cruised through the zoo and museum.
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| Ava really liked the museum, she was able to reach and touch everything. She mostly found the slides and went up and down until we made her move on. This girl is a slidin' fool! |
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| Daddy and Ava in front of the cool wall at the Portland Zoo. |
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| There was a really cool old lumber train in front of the zoo as well, Ollie would have loved seeing this. |
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| Children's Museum |
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| Slidin' fool I say! |
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| Then back to the hotel for some relaxing and a little snack to tide us over till dinner. I'd say she was happy. |
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| This was right around the corner from our hotel, I loved walking to dinner every night. |
After dinner we walked around for a bit, then decided to try the crepe vending truck, SO good! It was the perfect treat to end the night. Then it was back to the hotel to get a few hours of sleep before the long drive home. And it was long, so so long. It seemed like an eternity. I missed my boys so much and wanted to squeeze them and never let them go when I got home. It was such a fun trip and the first time we have ever had a "vacation" since Kahner was 18 months (speaking of which my boy will be turning 5 this month!)
Thank you for letting us share in your day Jared and Hailey! It was truly a wonderful day and we are so happy for the two of you. It really is a wonderful life.
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