Wednesday, November 20, 2013

I was surprised. . .

I don't even know where to begin with this post. . .
so I'll begin with the END!


This is us in San Francisco last year for Spring Break!
How we got there is the real story. . .
And it's a good one!

Long story short. . . (or as short as 20 pictures can show)

Kyle began telling me that he was going to go to a conference for work in Portland and he wanted me to go with him. 
Now while I will jump at any chance for a getaway with my husband I did my best to thwart any surprise he had planned.
His conference happened to be the same week as Spring Break, so I got mom guilt that we were ditching our kids during their break so I tried to convince him that he should go to his conference then I would drive the kids up and meet him and we could make a family trip out of it.
He continued to tell me he had cleared it with his parents. They were on board to watch the kids and everything was taken care of. . . besides he told me "the tickets have already been bought".

Then I started thinking about it more. A week. He would be in meetings 8 hours during the day. . . what was I going to do for all those hours? As much as the getaway was wanted I just kept thinking that's a lot of time to spend alone in a city I didn't know. . . 

He assured me we would have fun and to just go with it.
So I went with it until the night before we were to leave. 
He asked me if he thought we could pack together in one suitcase?
For 8 days? 
Are you crazy?
He explained he was worried because the only rental car he could get was a smaller car and he explained that his friend from Utah who attends these conferences as well wanted a ride to the hotel from the airport. He wasn't sure if all the suitcases would fit. I assured him I would sit on a suitcase if I had to and besides I would sit in the backseat and there was still a seat available for a suitcase if we needed it. He then informed me that his friend was bringing his "significant other"/ "girlfriend"/ "concubine". . . he seriously used the word concubine.
Needless to say that got me worried. I started to think. Wait. He's bringing someone too and they are sharing our rental car. . . do I have to hang out with this "concubine" all week???????
Oh boy. Now I was worried.

We get on the plane.
We fly to Portland.
We get off the plane and Kyle tells me we are going to meet his buddy at their gate.
"Why?" I ask. "Why can't we just meet them at baggage claim and get the rental car?"
At this point I was being bratty. I could tell Kyle was getting annoyed.
We walked all the way across the airport and are waiting for the plane to arrive.
As people are exiting the plane I am pretending to be on my phone - dreading the moment where I have to meet the "concubine"!

And then I hear it!
The best sound in the world!

"Oh my HECK!"
I look up and there is my best friend, Lyndsey from growing up and her husband Chris!

I still didn't put everything together! Chris is a cop in Utah and I thought he was attending the conference with Kyle. . .

Then I realized.
THERE IS NO CONFERENCE!

Our husbands had spent months planning this little getaway for us.
And they pulled it off!
Neither one of us had any idea!

So we packed up the rental car (which they upgraded to a minivan)!!!


And headed down the Coast!

FIRST STOP
Astoria, Oregon

And the most famous landmark in Astoria. . .
THE GOONIES HOUSE!


Astoria is at the very top of Oregon. In fact we drove across a bridge into Washington State, just so we could say we travelled across three states!
It is the cutest little city built on the side on a hill overlooking the bay!






From there we headed down the Coast to Cannon Beach!
The absolute best Beach Town ever!
Cannon Beach is famous for this!



Again, all I have to say is GOONIES!




We stayed in the cutest little beach hotel and watched what else but GOONIES while eating popcorn and drinking hot chocolate!


Perfect Beginning for the Perfect Road Trip!

We drove down the Coast staying on Highway 1 the entire time!









I was so impressed with our "guys"! They had everything planned out including where we were going to eat! They seriously researched the best places to eat every place we stopped!



And. . . I ate seafood!

This place was the most fun Biker Joint! Seriously.
The ceiling was covered with Road Trip souveniers!
We added ours to the mix!


I don't think we were disappointed at any place we tried.


And the places we stayed. . .
Oh my goodness.







We had so much fun here. The room was great but the grounds were beautiful!

Each place we stayed was just perfect for where we were! And each place was so different. . .

but this place I will never forget!



It was AMAZING!
I fell in love with everything about this bed and breakfast.

There are only 5 little cabins. . .
surrounded by nature at its finest!


Our little cabin. . .


And the view out the front door . . .



And a moonlit walk to. . . 


The hot tub overlooking the ocean!


We could have spent the whole next day just wandering around. . .



The best thing about the trip for me was just being able to do whatever we wanted to do whenever we wanted to do it!
If we saw something we liked, we just pulled over to get a better look!



One day we saw this perfect beach and we just had to stop for awhile. . .


















Best Road Trip Ever!


Thank you to the BEST HUSBANDS for pulling off the BEST SURPRISE!

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Camping. . .


My husband bought a tent today. . .well yesterday. 
A new backpacking tent for two. . . 
I think it was supposed to be a surprise 
but they messed up the order and sent an email which I saw. 
Oops.
I told him I saw the email.
The tent is for "our" backpacking trip he told me. . .
Oh boy.
I'm a camper. I love camping. Been doing it since I was little.
 Memories of family to me are of camping!
This was my family teepee. 
I think its safe to say if your family owns a teepee you take camping very seriously.


Backpacking however is new to me.
Even a year ago I would have and did say no when my husband talked about going backpacking together. . . but the idea is growing on me.
Apparently that's a good thing since now we have a tent.

All this camping/backpacking talk today got me thinking about our camping trips this summer.

We headed to the mountains. . .


to our little mountain home for the weekend.



We had great campfires and even better campfire conversation. . .
(hehehe - I'm still giggling just thinking about it)


We ate the BEST food. . .
(I'm drooling still thinking about it)




We spent a lot of time at the lake!


A gentle reminder that our boys are growing up. . .
we might want to invest in some bigger life jackets!


Kody was happy. . .



The dirtier he got the HAPPIER he got!




We fished. . . 



and these two were inseparable!


We found some cliffs to jump off of. . .



We even took a night hike down to the lake so we could show the kids what stars really are. . .
but they were more fascinated by the gigantic frog Kris caught!


 The kids had a blast together. . .
If they weren't all sitting around the picnic table together playing cards. . .
They could be found playing Hunger Games all through the campground!


My favorite picture from the trip. . .

If this doesn't say CAMPING. . . I don't know what does!


I'll keep you posted on that backpacking trip!