Oregon at it's finest (and hottest)

My cousin, Michael, got married at the end of July and had a reception in his hometown in Oregon at the beginning of August. Joe and I were lucky enough to be able to make it! Sadly, I didn't get any pictures besides the two hikes that we went on while we were there. But we did have an awesome time, I promise! We got to spend time with family that we don't get to see very often. 

Joe and I left Logan Thursday night and drove to Nampa, ID (just outside of Boise, ID) where my cousin and her family live. But as she was the sister of the groom in Oregon, they were already up there. They were kind enough to let us stay in their house for the night and mooch off their stuff. Here's a picture of the sunset on our drive in the middle of nowhere. :)

Joe and I stayed up late playing Harry Potter Lego on the Wii. I'm not ashamed to admit that! It was awesome and made me reconsider my general stand against gaming systems. We left Nampa on Friday morning and got to Portland Friday evening. We met my parents and cousin at her house and left for the reception. It was a great party! There is a family favorite DJ up in Oregon that has done a lot of the weddings up there. He is so much fun and really gets the crowd involved. And we got to see all the fam, so naturally, we had a great time! I was a little under the weather with a big headache but I still had tons of fun. My cousin, Michael, and his bride, Liz, were adorable. This was the first time I met her but they are so cute together! I'm so happy for him. 

My cousin Shawn and her daughter Sadie were kind enough to let my parents, Joe and I to stay with them in their house. It was a cute little house that Joe and I decided we are going to move into once he's done with school! (Shawn is moving to Amsterdam for her work and plans to keep her house for awhile. Since we'd LOVE to live in Oregon, we decided it would be perfect.) Saturday was spent hiking, barbecuing (I had to use spell check on this word btw, what a weird word!) and just enjoying our Portland family. My Mom and I went to Trader Joe's since we don't have one here in Utah currently. We also watched some Olympic coverage and when the local news came on, it informed us that it was the hottest day in 3 years in Portland. 103 degrees. Here I was thinking, "Yay! We're going to Oregon where it's lush and green and rainy and cool." ...Little did I know, we apparently brought the heat from Utah with us. Sorry! Here are some pictures from our Saturday hike. Man, I love Utah and appreciate it's unique beauty but coastal Oregon just has a certain charm that steals my heart.

 My cousin Alyssa, my Dad, myself and Joe

 We climbed up this big rock and then my Dad 

climbed down and took our picture up there.

(Sorry about the picture turning mishap...)

 Still up there!

 Saw this little guy and heard a few more

 rustlings in the foliage as we hiked.

 These two rascals hiked with us. If this 

doesn't convince Joe that we need a dog, 

I don't know what will. They were so fun!

My cousin Shawn and my Mom

Sunday morning was spent at my Aunt's house with the family and then off to another hike! Well, it was more of a short walk to a fun little waterfall but I still enjoyed all the greenery of Oregon and didn't mind that it was less of a hike and more of a jaunt. Here are pictures from this hike.

 All the family that was there (minus

 Joe, who is taking the picture)

 My Uncle Nick and Dad

 Isn't he cute? Oh, the waterfall is cool too!

 My Dad slipped and scraped his knee

 up pretty bad. This is him faking pain.

 Hey Mom!

 The top of the falls

 All the siblings that were on the hike

 I just love my parents

 We kinda love each other

 Look at that tree growing out of the bank

 of the river and growing sideways!

After the hike, Joe and I started our trek back home. We stopped again in Nampa to spend the night. This time my cousin, Shelby, was there so we got to spend some time with her! (And get her help on a part of Harry Potter Lego that we couldn't figure out...) Monday morning we spent some more time with her and her kids and headed back home to Logan. 

Celebrating Utah!

For the 24th of July, Joe and I went down to Salt Lake City to party with the family. Monday night, we went and saw The Dark Knight Rises. I must admit, it was a little intense but I enjoyed it. Tuesday, my brother and his family came over and made breakfast. We then went to Red Butte Gardens. They were having a free day on the 24th so we were all over that! It was excellent! The first little bit drizzled on and off and then it full on rained for a little bit. But the sun came out and then we were wishing it was raining again because it was so hot! Despite the changing weather, we loved the whole thing! My sister-in-law, Heidi, is pretty pregnant and the gardens are on a hill so we were a little worried. However, right when we got there, we saw that there was a large golf cart just leaving from the building. We couldn't all fit on there but Heidi, my Mom and the kids were able to get on there. The best part was that we could follow the same path because the golf cart went very slow and also stopped quite frequently. All in all, it worked out for all of us quite well! 

We went around most of the gardens and saw lots of beautiful flowers and pond areas.

We also saw some wildlife. Some lovely, some not so much. 

Here's a hummingbird that I somehow caught on camera if you look closely.

Took some cute pictures of everyone having fun.

We stopped off at the children's area. We had brought swimsuits for the kids so they put those on and got going in the fountains that were there. Kimball also decided to get in there and help the kids be a little more brave. This is when it started raining so it was actually perfect timing. 

Once it stopped raining, we got the kids dressed and played on other joyful things of the children's area. 

We then walked around some more gardens and then headed back to the building. We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting out in front of my parent's house while the kids rode their bikes up and down the driveway.

 We then made the trek to Bountiful to do a few at-home fireworks with some of Heidi's family.

We had an excellent 24th of July and we couldn't be more glad that my 

brother and his family are back in Utah so we can do things like this!