September Birthdays

Last Sunday we celebrated the September Birthdays in the family. Jodi was the host our the party and did a fabulous job! Here are some random pictures of the activities that went on during the get together. Here is Seth learning how to walk on Aunt Jodi's tramp.

I gave Amy my camera to get some pictures of Seth on the tramp. And her is one of my favorite ones. Thank goodness for the safety netting! It also just makes me laugh to see his little face all smashed up against the netting.

Claire and her Grandma having some bonding time. She was all smiles for the camera and anyone who would talk to her.

The kids swinging in the swing set. My Mom was pushing Talmage and Brenna for a little bit and Brenna tells my Mom, "I need to work on my pumps." So cute!

Mike showing us how it to use the "Rip Stik".

Here are the birthday boys...Ryan with his electric bug zapper. I know that he will have a lot of fun with that present. He will be turning 23 on the 26th...where does the time go?

McKay's birthday was on the 3rd and the got the "Rip Stik" for his bday. He is already a pro! He turned 8, so that means Cub Scouts...here comes McKay! And he will be getting baptized next month!

Here is Tanner sporting his new Yankee hat. It's perfect for him...his favorite team with Provo's colors. What could be better? He turned 11 on the 10th. I tell you I remember when all of the September birthday boys were born! My how time flies! Happy Birthday Boys!!!

On the way home.....

This is where we started our day. It was SO nice to be able sleep without setting an alarm. They have REALLY comfy beds and with hotel curtains the room was SO dark, we were able to sleep and sleep! It was heaven! A perfect way to end the trip, with a relaxing day and only driving 6 hours home! Side note here: both of our Dads called before noon to see where we were and they were both shocked when we answered "Boise!" Since we had extended our trip by a day we made sure we took full advantage of it. Therefore, we took our time getting ready and then headed out to visit Jenn's friend. We had a nice visit with them but finally we realized it was time that we start heading towards Utah. But not before we made a stop at...

Yes, we had to go to Baja Fresh! We used to have a couple in Salt Lake but for some reason they left the state! And I have been SO sad about that fact. I just LOVE their food. For fast food Mexican, I think it is great! I have to tell you that it was what I remembered, they did not disappoint! In fact as we were we decided that we needed to get some food "to go" for the car ride home. Chips, Salsa (they have REALLY good Pico) and Guacamole (my favorite!) Here is their link http://www.bajafresh.com/jump.jsp?itemID=0&itemType=HOME_PAGE to heop you locate the nearest Baja Fresh to you for when you travel out of state. Alright, so now that we have been feed, it was time for the inevitable...the drive home.

What would a road trip be with Wendy without having pictures in the car?????? The answer..."It wouldn't be a true road trip without car pictures." (At least now that I have my camera and it follows almost where ever I go.) It is a dangerous thing for me to have a camera and be bored. The batteries in my camera were dying so I wasn't able to take that many pictures.

Here's Jenn, just driving away. We made it home with no traffic or problems from construction. BUT we did have rain most of the way home. It wasn't bad until we hit Draper and then it got REALLY bad coming down the point of the mountain until American Fork. The wind was out of control and that didn't help the rain. I was just grateful that when we made it home to Springville, there was only wind and no rain for unloading the car!


I have another side note for you...Throughout the entire trip, which included driving in three different states with construction and traffic we never experienced one OUNCE of road rage. But just crossing the Utah border...low and behold guess what showed up again????? That would be road rage!!!! You gotta love driving in Utah, right? NOT!!!! I was SO impressed that when people saw the sign that a line would end in a mile or two everyone would get over and at the merge point we didn't have to put on the breaks at all. It was SO smooth!!! Why can't that happen here? It drives me nuts!!!! I just had to throw that side note in. It was a pleasure to drive outside the state of Utah, even if the speed limit in Oregon was ONLY 65!!! As you can see we had a great trip! It was relaxing and SO much fun to see new places!!! Once again, Thank You Jenn for being such a great tour guide!!! The trip was just what I needed!!!

Northwest Trip Day 4

Labor Day!!! The "plan" was to drive all the way from Salem, OR to Springville, UT all in one day. A REALLY long day of driving, but I was up for it because I knew the end result would have me sleeping in my own bed! (I LOVE my bed and I miss it when I am away!!!) We left Salem around 8:30am and started making our way out of town. We did a quick drive by the Portland Temple, it was really beautiful. Sorry, I don't have a picture as it was a drive by. But if you want to see a picture of the Portland Temple go to http://hanksphotography.blogspot.com
Alright so we are on the road home but first we needed to make another semi quick stop. We had to stop to see Multnomah Falls, which is about 30 miles outside of Portland. I have to say if you are ever driving through you really should stop and check it out. One thing that you need to make sure you do is to eat at the Lodge. It was SOOOO good!!!! I loved their biscuits, but the other food was way yummy, too! We had a great view of the falls while we wait, so it was totally worth it! You can check it out at http://www.multnomahfallslodge.com/
Here are a few pictures of the falls...

Another picture of the falls, they were really pretty!

This is just a picture of the nature around the falls.

One more picture of the falls. This is kind of what we saw while we were eating breakfast. It was a great way to enjoy the morning. It actually was a little chilly which was kind of nice.

And how could I forget...the Multnomah Falls Lodge. So, there is a nice bit of nature around and for those of you who are really outdoorsy you can go hike and stuff. Then you also have the restaurant and don't forget there is a gift shop as well. If you are passing through, it is totally worth it to stop for a little and take a break.

After the falls, we were REALLY on our way home. We had good music, pillows, books, DVD player, snacks...and A/C???? A little while after the falls the A/C stopped blowing air. Like on full blast nothing at all. We thought it was a little odd because Jenn's car is a 2006 and nothing out of the ordinary happened to the car. The temperature of the car stayed the same, so we just kept going. Driving through Eastern Oregon is not like driving around Portland. It was a little on the warm side. (Boise was 101 that day so Eastern Oregon was in the 90s.) We had the windows cracked and at times we had the sunroof open. Because we couldn't get any air to come out of the vent either. It wasn't the most pleasant ride that I have ever been on but not the most uncomfortable either. We just kind of looked at it as another adventure! And one to make us really grateful to actually have A/C in our cars. We made it to Boise and we were totally ready to take a little break from the HOT car. Our plan was to visit Jenn's friend for a little bit, grab some dinner and then head back out on the road. Well, when we got to the friend's house, they weren't home. But Jenn's Dad was having her checkout her car to see if she could see anything wrong with it. While Jenn was talking to her Dad I called mine, because I figured two Dad's can be better then one, right? By this time it was almost 7pm on a holiday. We decided that we were going to stay in Boise and get this A/C thing figured out. I called the hotel that we had stayed at a few days earlier and we were in luck, they had room. We made a stop at Fred Meyer's (yes, Fred Meyer's does exist outside of the state of Utah) and headed to the hotel. Still with no A/C, as we were getting closer to the hotel I turned it on just for kicks and giggles to see what it would do. You will never believe it but came on FULL FORCE!!! Apparently, it froze up on us and needed time to thaw. Without car trouble to worry about we were ready to enjoy our evening. A shower was the first thing on the agenda because we felt like we had been at the lake all day. (Sorry no before pictures...it wasn't exactly a picture perfect moment.) Then we headed out for some good food. We found the Cheesecake Factory Thursday night and headed back there. Here are our "after" pictures...Jenn with her Chinese Chicken Salad. Looks pretty cool, huh? Oh and doesn't she look SOOO pretty?

Here I am with my Mango something salad. I can't remember the full name but I remember there were mangoes in it! It was really good! And it felt SO good to get cleaned up, put on cute clothes and go out. That is such a girl comment! And it was SO much fun! Then we went back to the hotel and totally CRASHED! So much for really going out on the town. But we were tired, we played a lot in Oregon!

Northwest Trip Day 3...The Coast!!!!

I will start off with this disclosure. We had a short amount of time and crammed a lot of stuff in that time period. So, there are a lot of pictures for this day. I am also going to warn you that I did get a little carried away with picking pictures to put on...but I figured, it's my blog so I can post as many pictures as I want, right? After all this is "Wendy's World" and may I say...Welcome to it!


We started off our day at the coast by stopping in Depoe Bay. It was beautiful! The one thing that I REALLY wanted to see while I was at the beach was a whale or two since it was prime whale watching time. And Jenn was thinking to herself, "Sure, like that is going to happen." Well, at our first start stop we got out of the car at an overlook and guess what we see???? A WHALE!!!! We only saw it for a second before it went back under but that was good enough for me. I tried to get a picture but since we BARELY saw it you can hardly tell there is a whale, especially in this one. It is a nice picture of the ocean though!

In this one you can kind of see the splash that it made out in the middle.

After we saw the whale we went down the road a little farther and found another lookout spot. I thought this was a pretty picture of the coastline and one that I am not used to seeing since I am from Southern California. In Cali you don't see pine trees next to the ocean, but I have to admit it was beautiful!

This is still around Depoe Bay, it are you noticing the jacket??? It was a little chilly but once again we lucked out and had some blue sky for most of the day!!!

Jenn was just in heaven being at the Oregon Coast again. I have to say she is a really good tour guide. She made sure we didn't miss seeing anything really important to the area!

So on this lookout there was a little gift shop over looking the ocean. It was really cool actually. They had the normal touristy kind of things. But this was one thing that caught my eye. It reminded me of a post my brother-in-law Mike did on his blog a while ago. (He is very aware of his reader's needs and wants to make sure we are up with the latest fashion trends.) It was about the Popcorn shirt, which if I am not mistaken this looks very similar to the Popcorn shirt. You can compare them by checking out the "real" Popcorn shirt at http://www.popcornshirt.com. It looks like Mike is "in the know" about cutting edge fashion after all. Who would have thunk it? I do have a few pictures of Jenn with the shirt on but I didn't want to get too carried away with the post just over the popcorn shirt. But just so you know they pretty much can be a one size fits all (for the most part.)

Here is just another pretty picture of the coast. It was such a beautiful day...in the morning. You will see that it did get a little cloudy as the day went on. But I was loving being at the beach, even if I did have to wear long sleeves and a jacket!

We are still around Depoe Bay in this picture. We had to stop to see the Lighthouses (pictures to come.) We tried to take a picture of us by ourselves and it was horrible, so this nice guy who is a volunteer at the Lighthouse came up and offered to take our picture. This one turned out MUCH better and I am not embarrassed to post it!

Here is the tallest Lighthouse in Oregon. It was over 100 steps to the top but the line was long and we had other things to do so I didn't actually make it to the top. I was fine with the pictures of the area from the ground. They really are cool just to look at, I totally enjoyed my time in the area!

Here is the first Lighthouse that was built in the area. It is actually a house that a family with 7 children lived in. It was only in use for about 3 years because it was a little too small and a little too far back in-land. It was fun to go and walk around it though.

After Depoe Bay we went down to Newport. It is a cute little town with lots of little shops and stuff. We were able to see the gathering of the sea lions. Jenn wanted to get closer and I was OK with where we were. I told her, "That's alright, I've seen the sea lion and otter show at Sea World." She said, "It's not the same thing, they are in their natural habitats here." I was under the impression you've seen one sea lion, you've seen them all! There were lots of them around just staring up at the people. I wonder what goes through a sea lions mind when they see all the people just staring down at them?

After Newport we started to make our way north to Cannon Beach. Here is a link to a map of the Oregon Coast, so you can see how far we traveled to get all of beaches in! http://www.visittheoregoncoast.com/home.cfm?dir_cat=15378
We first hit the coast in Lincoln City and then went south to Depoe Bay and Newport. On the way to Cannon Beach we stopped in Tillamook to go to the Cheese Factory. It was HUGE! We had to get ice cream and cheese! The ice cream was SO yummy! I wish I could have figured out a way to bring some home with me. I couldn't so I just brought cheese home, which is super good by the way! I don't have any pictures of Tillamook, sorry I was just concentrating on getting my ice cream! But here is their website so you can see what it looks like, http://www.cbcc.net/Tillamook%20cheese.htm
After Tillamook we made our way to Cannon Beach, which is just beautiful! By the time we got there, the clouds had started to come in and it was a little chilly but not too bad. The water however was FREEZING! We did go and put our feet in and about froze them off! If you look closely in the picture you will see that there are kids actually playing in the water! Crazy kids! This is just a picture of the area of Cannon Beach, nothing in particular.

Jenn in front of the rock at Cannon Beach. I have never seen anything like it before but it was very pretty. Added some character to the beach scenery!

It's my turn for my picture in front of the rock! There is a funny story behind this picture. The first one Jenn took I didn't like the way I looked in it, so in this one I am kind of "posing." Yes, I know that may sound a little strange but I knew I was going to post the picture on my blog so I needed to like it!

Sometimes I really think that I shouldn't have a camera. Because if I get bored then I decide to take pictures of myself. And while Jenn was just relaxing on the beach I was taking picture after picture of myself until I got one or two that I liked. I am only posting one for you to see how I spent some of my time on the beach! I did enjoy myself, especially walking barefoot in the sand! AAHH...it was heaven!!!!

As I was laying on the blanket looking up I saw that a little blue sky broke through the clouds! I had to take a picture to document it. I thought having the kite in the picture was a nice touch and also to show you what other people were doing at the beach!

What would a beach trip be without writing in the sand? Jenn did this as I was busy taking pictures of myself! Yes, I do love Edward even though he isn't completely real. Although in my head he is and I think that counts! For those of you wondering who Edward is, read Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. You will fall in love with him too!

Yes, Jenn loves John! What more can I say????

While we were chillin' on the beach I noticed this sand castle. Someone made it and just left it for everyone else to enjoy. I thought it was pretty dang cool! The little detail on it really caught my eye! It takes talent! So, thank you to who ever made this and left it for us to enjoy!

Here is another angle of the castle for you to see the detail that was put in it. After the and castle pictures I decided it was time to put the camera away and just chill! It was SO wonderful to just sit and listen to the ocean. It had been TOO long since I was at a beach! When we finally left we were a little chilled but very relaxed!

That was our day along the Oregon Coast. We didn't make it up to Astoria, where Goonies was filmed. But I am OK with that. I have to have something to look forward to when I go back! Once again...Jenn, thank you for being such a great tour guide! I had a WONDERFUL time!

Northwest Trip Day 2

The main goal of the day was to make it to Tummwater, WA for Jenn's friend's ring ceremony and reception. But since we were going to be in Washington Jenn wanted to show me Seattle. Well, we had planned on getting there early in the day and having lots of time to explore. But as most of you know how life goes on vacation. It didn't happen...we were on vacation so it was alright to take our time in places along the way. But that meant that by the time we got to Seattle it was later then we had planned on, so we only had about an hour to give me a tour of the city. We started with Pike's Market. This is a view of area around the market. We totally lucked out and it was a beautiful day!

Another view of the area behind the market.

This is a picture of the first Starbucks, I thought that was pretty cool.

Here is a picture of the front of the Pike's Market.

I thought this was funny. It give a whole new meaning to the expression, "When pigs fly."

This is a restaurant that was in the movie Sleepless in Seattle. Sorry that it isn't a very good picture, but you need to keep in mind that we were almost running through the market, well it was a speed walk...not quiet running. You get the general idea though.

They have one whole side of the market with different flower vendors. They were SO gorgeous and cheap! I had to take a picture to show how many flowers that were around. It was amazing. I was just wishing that I didn't live SO far away because I wanted to bring home flowers.

Here is on of the prearranged arrangements, I think this one was $5! Can you believe that? Just amazingly beautiful! It makes the cheap arrangements at Costco look kind of pathetic.

Here is one of the coolest things in Pike's Market, the guys throwing fish. When they throw the fish, they sing. It is really fun. If you look closely you can see the guy catching a fish. So, that made my trip to Pike's Market complete.

What would a visit to Seattle be without seeing the Space Needle. We didn't have time to go up in it but for me a picture was good enough. It is pretty cool to look at, though. And still take note of the bright blue sky!!!

Here is the Fremont Troll under the Fremont bridge. I don't know much about it but you can learn more about the troll at http://www.arfarfarf.com/troll/.

I did hear that under his hand is a real VW Bug. And if you notice the eye...it is a real hub cap. Pretty crazy! But definitely cool to check out!

By the way...we did make it to Tummwater, got changed and arrived at reception center just as the bride and groom were walking in for the ring ceremony. Thank goodness since that was the whole point of the trip to the Northwest. I am looking forward to going back to Seattle with a little more time to explore more. But at least I can say I have been to Seattle and I have seen some of the most important things in Seattle. Thanks Jenn for the tour!!

Northwest Trip Day 1

It is going to take a few posts to get my whole trip documented, so I thought I would get going on it. This a picture of the "Hot Lake Hotel." If you have ever watched the Travel Channel around Halloween you may have heard about this place. They say it is haunted and would a special on the Travel Channel and make people stay the night in the place. Even when Jenn was on her mission they went by to check it out and it was all run down. But a couple years ago they started renovating it again. It doesn't look SO scary now. I found an article about it online, http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2007-03-05-hot-lake-springs_N.htm. Now you can go there and take a tour, we decided against it because it takes an hour. Not worth our time on this trip.

Here is Jenn in front of the hotel and the grounds. I figured I need a picture with one of us in it. And since Jenn forgot her camera I was the picture taker!

Friday afternoon in Portland we met up with Jenn's friend, Sariah and went around some of Jenn's favorite places in Portland. Well, we spent a lot of time on 23rd Street. Which is pretty cool, it has a lot of fun little shops and some great restaurants. I have to say this was my first trip to Portland and it is a very pretty city, but it took a little getting used to. The people there are just real and don't pretend to be what they aren't, so you see all kinds of people walking around. I did really like it and I could go back for lots of visits after Jenn moves back (in a year or two.) In the afternoon we also went to visit Jenn's friend who is a make-up artist. He is SO cool, it was SO worth the trip to Portland just to meet him. He did all of our make-up, so here we are at the mall post make-up artist...don't we all just look beautiful? It was fun to have someone do my make-up and teach me a few new things. Here is his website, http://bacchuscosmetics.com/

PS--stay tuned for more.....