Saying Goodbye

Ryan wouldn't let us leave without a rematch. And he did conquer in the end.

We knew we were going to miss the adorable Austin who made us feel like we'd be GREAT parents. He never fussed or anything. He was so content and we swear he's going to be a football player since he was such a firm little guy.

And I'll miss you stephanie! You inspire me to be better!

Griffin will of course miss Ryan more than anything and their male bonding time watching ESPN constantly. :) jk we just couldn't help but laugh at how it looks like they're holding hands! haha

Thank you Walker Family! We love you and miss you and thank you for a WONDERFUL vacation in Washington!

Multnomah Falls and FOOD!!!!!!

We love the Walker Family. So funny how Sam was refusing to smile for the family photo.
I forgot to take photos of the actual food, but Ryan and Steph took us to "Pine State"--apparently a Food Network recommended breakfast and lunch restaurant...I think. It had the best tasting chicken EVER!

Afterwards we went to the popular MULTNOMAH FALLS.


Griffin and me

Stephanie and Austin

You probably can't tell but in these photos we're up on the bridge!

Sam...being his normal photogenic self with Ryan and Griffin :)

This was at a smaller waterfall "Waikene" or something falls. We enjoyed these unique trees. I was jealous this tree had more curves to show off than I did!

Ryan and his boys...so cute

Here's Ryan going at being Mr. Amazing again--this time making Danish pancakes. I can't even begin to try to say their official name. Plus he made a homemade mixed berry syrup! They were delicious and reminded us of the food we enjoyed on the cruise we went on last May! As you can tell I'm still getting used to the whole blogging thing and so some pics are still turned sideways. Sorry!

As Dad would say, "We approved!"

This is Ryan making his mouth watering Pork Ribs. Me, who normally hates pork, dies for his ribs! I'm so glad he was teaching Griffin all his secret techniques using a smoker! Before and after shots.

And Ryan didn't stop there...he even went so far as to make a homemade caramel flaun! Yes, I don't know how to spell it...but it was delicious.

Finally with the WALKERS!

We finally made it to Vancouver, Washington. On the way I saw this sign and HAD to take it in honor of my Freshman Year Roommate from BYU, Jessica Feik Mitchell. She grew up in Camas and praises it. This is for you Jessica! We are so excited Jessica and her husband Matt are planning to move back to Vancouver/Portland/Camas area someday so when we go visit we can see both the Walkers AND the Mitchells!!!





Here is the beautiful Walker family. Aren't they wonderful? They were the best hosts EVER! Seriously they provided incredible meals...you'll see...and exposed us to Portland secrets and different tourist sites. Plus they have the cutest kids who kept us entertained 24/7!

I still can't believe how HOT PINK so many of the bushes were!

This is Austin. Just 4 months old and already we all know he has the body of a future football player. He's insanely strong. His neck didn't bobble AT ALL! We all had turns holding him. The more I was around him the more I wanted a little baby of my own...a little Austin in fact! :)

This is the practically perfect Stephanie. She has incredible self discipline...she was working on grocery lists while thee rest of us were watching sports, or working (she's an accountant) while Ryan, Griffin and I played settlers, and getting up to take care of babies while the rest of us slept! She is SUPERWOMAN!

And this is the totally adorable Sam! I wish I had a cuter close up of him. He has the cutest little voice and could say our names when he arrived. He will do and keep doing whatever he gets attention for. A few minutes after we first arrived Sam said, "Where's Gwiffin?" I thought it was so adorable I made a big deal about it and he kept saying it over and over and over again. A different day he came in and out of the blue said, "The dog pooped on the lawn" Since he doesn't say that many correct phrases we thought this was so funny that this is what he decided to articulate. We all died laughing and he said it over and over and over again as well. The most classic thing I wish I had recorded was when Ryan would have Sam sit in the chair and would spin him A LOT. Then Ryan would tell Sam to walk to a certain point and we'd watch Sam tumble over because he was so dizzy he couldn't see straight. We were laughing so hard that Sam kept saying "Again! Again!" Sam is such an entertainer!
Sam loves his cars. He seriously watched portions of the movie "Cars" EVERY SINGLE DAY. And Stephanie says that is totally normal. He NEVER gets sick of it!

Part of what blew us away was all the incredible treats the Walkers made for us. They wanted to expose us to one of their favorites--Thai Food. Let's just say that Griffin I are sold...Pad Thai that is something we are dying to have again now!

But Ryan blew us away by all he knew how to do with his pressure cooker. He made the most amazing rice pudding for starters.

Here's a quick shot of us playing Bananagrams.

One of my winning hands
Griffin and I loved the variation Settlers of Zarahemla brought. We thought it was so funny that the Robber is called the Gadianton Robber.

"I'm all put out"

Day #2 1/2

So after driving all night Tuesday, arriving about noon Wednesday, spending the night, walking across the famous Bridge of the Gods, it was time for us to say goodbye to Cascade Locks. Interestingly though we noticed this sign on our way out in one of the major stores about Jesse James, the infamous cowboy. It basically talks about how a Jesse James from Bonneville, Oregon, claimed to be the great nephew of the outlaw Jesse James. Then the photo of the old man is supposed to be Jesse James in Cascade Locks. I thought that was kind of cool.

Goodbye Cascade Locks...10 minutes later...hello Bonneville Dam! I tried to catch a pic of the dam itself (on the left) and on the right is the sign listing all the parts on it. But it's way too small to be able to read it. :( Sorry.

The Bonneville Lock and Dam was so neat! You can go to the bottom floor of the building and see the older, mature fish migrating up the river/dam to go lay their eggs...and then essentially die. They go through all this work just for their babies to be born upstream. It was so cool watching the fish struggle against the current, yet somehow keep going. The littler fish were not so lucky...we couldn't help but laugh as we watched all these swarms of tiny, tiny fish facing upstream but definitely going downstream!

On our way back we stopped by the Fish Hatchery, which main feature was meeting Herman, a 450lb sturgoen! Yeah, I didn't mistype that...450 pounds!!!!

But honestly I found the Egg Incubation Building to be the most fascinating. We watched a 15 minute video about the extensive process they go through to save all the fish. When the full grown salmon make it back to the place of their birth to lay their eggs, the factory workers get their eggs and fertilize them and do ALL THIS STUFF and watch them grow into little fingerlings. (They're called fingerlings because they're about the size of a finger)

Then they are kept until grown enough to put them into Tanner Creek which leads to the Bonneville River and then on to the ocean for them to live until full grown which will then many will migrate back home (to the place of their birth) in order to lay their own eggs. So cool, huh?

Above you can see the full length salmon under the ducks. These ones are kept purely for public viewing, but they go to such extensive measures to keep and protect all these fish. It's a miraculous process.

Yay for the bonneville Fish Hatchery! :)

ALOHA!!!!

The rest of our trip included lots of bonding time and getting dressed for fancy dinners. :)
YAY FOR HAWAII!

Is this not the coolest snail you've ever seen?

Mom and I did spend one day in the town a few miles away from the St. Regis where we saw more beautiful plants, waterfalls, bought magnets, and ate Mexican food haha!

But really our favorite part was the day we got to vegetate on the beach. Gosh the weather was so perfect in Kauai. Not too hot, but not too cold. And I forgot to mention that there were chickens EVERYWHERE...from the moment we stepped out of Lihue airport...to the beaches we laid on! And this is what we got to see as we laid on the beach!

Mom of course had to get her water aerobics time in. She really is a dolphin. She can stay in the pool and just float around longer than anyone I know...yeah do you see anyone else in the pool? Swimming is truly her heaven. :)

This is a picture taken from our bedroom window. Yeah I know...don't hate us. It was magical.

The 2nd to last night we were there was the awards ceremony honoring all the employees of USBank who made it there. I was honored to be with Mom.

I too enjoyed some alone time where I got to just sit on the rocks and enjoy the breeze. If you look close enough you can see that I wasn't truly alone...there are little crabs that would HOP from rock to rock. I didn't know before then that crabs can HOP! It was kinda freaky actually.

More pics of us on the beach... oh and without even planning this Mom and I both brought Stephanie Meyer's "The Host" to read while on the beach!

More beautiful flowers and landscape of Hawaii

They were virgin we promise!

Our last night in Kauai we went to a private dinner with just the Northern California Reps. This is mostly Mom's team.

Here's a little taste of the luxuriousness of the St. Regis Hotel

Before calling our last night a night...we decided to go put our feet in the hottub...

And then the next morning...it was goodbye Kauai! We'll miss you!