Spooky....

We carved our pumpkin on Monday...Happy Halloween.

Then, we decided to play a trick (ok, it was mostly my idea, Rick was hesitant)...Kristina came over on Monday and then was going to spend the night. I guess I was in the Halloween mood because I wanted to scare her when she got back from the volleyball game she went to. So, Rick and I hid behind the wall by our driveway and when she walked by Rick started recording, then I popped up and made a turkey noise...we got her good!! I asked her a couple of days later how her hat flew off and she said, " I have no idea". I haven't done anything like that in a long time it was really funny mostly because Kristina was such a good sport, but I know I should be on the look out because she'll probably get me back!

(Sorry it's pretty dark.) 

Crawling

Road Trip Part 10: California Finale

The last days of our trip took us to California. The first stop on our list was Redwoods National Park.

Always good to know how to escape from wild animals...

 These trees made you feel so small and walking though them made us marvel at nature.

We thought the ferns were beautiful as well.

There are a couple of different parks with the giant redwoods in them and a road that goes in between called the Avenue of the Giants...parts like this made all of the driving enjoyable.

We even drove through a tree!

Here is a picture of the vineyards we drove though in Northern California.

Next stop, San Francisco...we stopped in San Fran for a day and hit some of the highlights.

Below is Alcatraz.

Random giant noodle at Pier 39...

This is a Cathedral we passed driving though town.

We accidentally ended up at Golden Gate Park and ended up spending the end of the day walking around there to give Truman some time out of the car and stretch our legs before getting back on the road.

The cutest boys I know.

Our final stop was El Segundo to visit Ted and Stef. It was nice to see some family again!

We relaxed and went to the beach a couple of times.

Ted surfed and Rick had fun boogie boarding for his first time.

Truman loved laying on the beach in his travel bed!

Thanks for having us! We had so much fun and can't wait to come back!

All in all, we loved our first family road trip. Of course, there was some crying (only from Truman) which could make things a little stressful, but overall everything went smoothly. We didn't know if we would ever have this much free time to do something like this again, so we took advantage of the situation and are really glad that we did. It was fun to see all of the beautiful sights and marvel at Heavenly Father's creations, but even more fun was visiting family and friends in their hometowns. We are truly blessed.

Road Trip Part 9: Portland & The Oregon Coast

Once we got off of the ferry in Washington we headed straight for Portland. We left pretty late, so we ended up getting to the Schaffer's house around 2am. Needless to say, we opted not to go to their 8am sacrament meeting, but headed for an 11am one instead. When the Schaffer's got home from Church and before we headed out to catch sacrament, Bridger was the first to greet us he said, "You were sleeping!"...so observant. He has the biggest smile and is every one's friend, but he was a little disappointed when he found out that we didn't have any "other kids" for him to play with. After Church we also got to visit with one of Rick's old roommates, Tyler Stoddard, and his family. It was nice to finally meet the guy behind some of the stories I had heard.

 We went to a u-pick blueberry patch. They have a lot of these u-pick type of little farms around Portland. The blueberries were delicious and super cheap! Here is Bridger using Rick's leg to take a break.

 Mel & Kacy

Mt. Hood is in the background of this one.

Mel took us to a rose garden that overlooked the city. Here is Bridger helping me to show just how big the roses actually were.

Time for a little nap in the afternoon sunshine.

After blueberries and the rose garden we did our own little walking tour of downtown Portland.

Our stops included Niketown and Powell's City of Books. Man, that is one huge bookstore!

Here is a random fountain we came across...Bridger quickly figured out how to make it squirt all over

...with maybe just a little help from Rick.

Some of the cool things we saw in downtown, random sculptures, windmills on top of buildings and interesting architecture.

Before we left we gave the Schaffers some Canadian licorice. Bridger was waving his around and making it wiggle and decided to call it wiggle-rish!

Truman blowing a kiss to say thanks for letting him use this fantastic toy during our stay.

The Kiddos

 Mel, Jim and kids, thanks for letting us stay! We had so much fun!!

We left Portland and headed down the Oregon Coast. We got a few suggestions of stops to make from Mel and Jim . This first was this place called Devil's Punchbowl.

Just chillin' in the Highlander...getting ready to go see some more sights.

These blackberry bushes were right by the parking lot. Apparently blackberry bushes are considered a weed in Oregon...seriously Jim told us all about it.

Probably not going to swim here...plus it was freezing.

We stopped to take a few photos of this lighthouse. Very scenic.

Then, we saw these big sand dunes with pine trees growing out of them.

That's a pretty rare sight if you ask me.

We stopped at the most western point in the continental US. Lighthouse and all.

 It was absolutely freezing!!!

A few pictures from the scenic coastline and dense greenery.

What a good little traveling boy.

Oregon was phenomenal and we are really glad that we decided to make the trip down the coast.