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"