Our fabulous trip to the Northwest!

We just got back from an awesome trip out to the Northwest to visit with Mark's sister Susan and her fun family and check out the sites. We had a super great time and are so glad we could go out there. So the next few posts will be about our fun trip.

Ready to take off

Jared did really great on the airplane. I think he got bored because he had to be in such a small space. (He learned how to crawl the Sunday before we left, so cute and fun) But he handled it really well and was hardly fussy at all. He is just such an easy going kid.

I had never been to Washington before and only to Medford in the very Southern part of Oregon so it was really fun to be somewhere new. I loved how green it was. It felt like we were driving through a forest all the time.

We got to go to the Portland temple with Mark's sister and her husband and their son Spencer, and his wife Jenn. It was really nice to go with them to the temple and to get to visit with Spencer and Jenn who just got married last December.

They live in Camas, Washington which is a really pretty city. About 10 minutes away from their house there is a beautiful lake surrounded by walking trails. Its so fun because you feel like you are up in the mountains. So we went on a walk with Susan in the misty weather and got some super fun pictures.

Wouldn't it be nice to live 10 minutes away from this?

Jared seemed to really like hiking. He just smiled the whole time.
It wasn't a hard trail by any means just nice and beautiful.

After we hiked around the lake we went kayaking with Susan's husband Bret. I had never been before and it was so great. I loved being that close to the water and not on a loud bumpy boat. I think it was really relaxing and yet you get a decent amount of exercise for your arms. I would love to own some kayaks one day.

Jenn, Spencer, And Bret kayaking

Next post: The Oregon Coast and Tillamook Cheese Factory!

The Second Story

Master bedroom.
This isn't a great picture but I love our curtains. They are this super pretty blue green with brown zig-zags

Master Bathtub, I can't wait for some cold winter nights.

Master Bath, with view of master closet.
I love walk in closets!!



Walking out of our bedroom.
Hallway: on the left you see the closet for the washer and dryer I love that they are upstairs! Then you pass the bathroom. Then Jared's room is on the left and the spare room is on the right. The staircase is to the right of the spare room.

Jared's room

This is the spare bedroom.
The previous owners had a little girl so the room was lovely shade of lavender so today we repainted it.



We just bought a full sized bed for this room, so it will be fun to get some new sheets.
We didn't want to get any bigger because it' s not a huge room.

Today I cleaned our home for the first time since we are all moved in. (I cleaned it really well before we moved in and then we were gone all last week.) I couldn't believe how much longer it took to clean then our apartment! I will definitely be cleaning one story at a time from here on out.

We love our new home! Feel free to come and visit!

If you want to take a tour

WELCOME!

Our fancy "S" doormat.

Below are lots of pictures of our new home. We love it. I would not want to be a real estate agent and have to try to take pictures of homes. Its tricky. This post just has the downstairs.

After walking through the front door, to the left is our little office. We have three bedrooms but there is a big space to the left and it needed something so we decided to just put the desk there and ended up liking it a lot.

To the right, our couches, bookshelf, (we thought it would be a safer to have the bookshelf behind the couches so Jared can't pull it down on him.) and fireplace.

Dining Room. I am standing on the staircase. To the right, living room. Left, kitchen.

Our fabulous kitchen. We have so much cupboard space and so many drawers. After unpacking all of our stuff and adding all our food storage almost every cupboard has the top shelf empty. It's so fun. We got an island, a flat stove and a microwave that does not have to be on the counter. I love it! I am standing in the extra space where we could fit a good sized table (which we do not have currently). To the right of me is the half bath and to the left is the sliding glass door leading to the patio.

Looking from the dining room.

Mark's BBQ. He was really happy to get a gas grill and I am happy to have him BBQ. Jared's shirt says "Dad's BBQ Buddy." CUTE!