Also on our Oregon stop:

Was the cheese factory. Not to be confused with the Cheesecake Factory. We had Tillamook squeaky cheese and Mudslide ice cream! Yum-O!

And while we were in Cannon Beach we stopped at Bruce's Candy Kitchen and watched them make salt water taffy. Hmm...I see a happiness thread here...

Ron and I got up Thursday morning and went to the Portland Temple and did a session. The temple is beautiful. It has a lot of the same designs (interior) as the Las Vegas Temple, and they were both dedicated the same year ('89). I'd be interested to know if they were designed by the same architect.

On our way home we went drove up to... Mount St. Helen's. (Which is in Washington, not Oregon, I know)

Talk about amazing! I remember when this thing (the mountain, not my hubby) blew her top. I was living in Utah, and I recall there being the most beautiful sunsets courtesy of all the ash that had entered the atmosphere...anyway, they have a cool movie at the visitor's center and afterward (spoiler alert!) they lift the screen and open the curtains to the most incredible view of Mount St. Helen's!

If you have the opportunity to go up to this National Park and Visitor's Center, I highly recommend it!

Our May visit in August

We spent the afternoon at Cannon Beach with Janae, Annabelle and Daniel. The weather was warm and foggy. Absolutely no wind to blow out the fog, but by mid-afternoon the sun was out and the fog had burned off.

The kids had a great time playing in the sand. Daniel ate half the beach and LOVED it!

Annabelle had such a good time digging in the sand with Grandpa!

Janae talked me into touching one of those sea stars... (I still call them star fish) They aren't as squishy as they look...but they're still kinda icky.

We've had a great time visiting the May's in Oregon, but we missed having Peter here. but we missed not having Peter here Guhh!! Peter was gone and we've missed him. There!

Our two mini missionaries

This was taken in our entryway just before we headed off to church. Aren't they so cute! Landon gave the prayer and the scripture in primary today, and he did a fantastic job!

Picnic with our ward & a bad camera day!

We had our ward picnic today. Here are some of the fabulous pictures I took >insert sarcasm here< My hubby's backside ...which, really I kinda like! ;)

My daughter-in-law's toes (what??) and part of my adorable grandson Landon!

My crazy friend Julie and her cute (big) grandbaby Noah...

Part of Ron's face, Julie's (even crazier) mom, and Julie's husband, Rayland

These guys (who are so small they're practically unidentifiable)playing soccer

...yeah, I'm an awesome fotografer! Picher taker! shutterbug! None of the above! Enjoy this post!

A must-read!

I don't really have patience for reading fiction. Occasionally historical fiction will interest me, but something like Harry Potter or Lord of The Rings, umm no thanks. Ron and I just finished this Memoir by Chris Williams. I knew of the events that took place, mostly because I lived in Utah when it occured and it was a pretty big story. But there is a story within the story that I did not know about, and it gives insight to what led this man in the direction his life took long before the tragedy that took his family. It's an emotional read of true Christ-like living. I highly recommend it.

Our day date to Seattle

Ron surprised me on our date today, by taking me to the University of Washington. I thought we were walking down to the water to take pictures, maybe watch some boats sailing across Lake Washington.

Nope. He rented a canoe, and we were going for a canoe ride across the lake.

This is where I start hyperventilating. I had to look at my feet for the first part of the ride across the lake. To say that large bodies of water scare me is like saying the Pacific Ocean is damp....I am over-the-top petrified of water. How my husband talked me into this I have no idea! He's good at that...talking me into doing scary things.

There were lot's of cool things to see.

Beautiful scenery.

(My favorite bit of scenery -my handsome hubby)

How beautiful is this?? I halfway wondered if we'd start to hear dueling banjo's when we started down this little path under the bridge. By the time we made it over to the arboritum I was a little more relaxed.

We saw some Blue Heron...

...and lot's of duckies

Then we had to paddle back across the Mont Lake cut to get back to where we started...yikes, that big body of water again!

But we made it back safely...and it was a great day! I love my Ron.

Thanks for a wonderful adventure honey!

Love to find good music...

...and I found a really great CD recently.

Some cool upbeat music by Justin Cash A Beautiful World has been floating around in my head since I first heard it the other day. He's got a smooth, warm voice. Kinda Harry Connick Jr./Jason Mraz-esq sounding. So there ya go...my 2 cents worth.

Loving the hot temps in U.P.

Cooling off with Logan and Landon on a hot summer day turned to temporary "art" on the fence. They were such good little sports because they had no idea what I was going to do when I asked them to stand at the fence!

Their little outlines on the fence quickly disappear. But it was hysterical to watch!

Even Grandpa got in on the action. This is a fun thing to do when it's super hot out, which doesn't happen too often in Washington!

Something tells me we're going to be sore tomorrow, in places we didn't know we had places!

A day at Yellowstone

One of the places Ron has always wanted to go was Yellowstone. So we used our National Park pass and went! (that thing has paid for itself over and over again!) Yellowstone Nat'l Park begins in Montana...

...then pretty suddenly you're in Wyoming!

Ron was so cute waiting for Old Faithful to erupt just like a little kid!

The warm breeze was melting my ice cream faster than I could eat it!

If I had known how fast these big, lethargic-looking Bison could book, I never would have let Ron get this close to him for this picture! Yikes!

While we were driving through the park there was a heard of Bison on the road.

Ron was standing through our sun roof to take these pictures. I had to call him back in when this guy got up close and personal with our car! ... "Don't make eye contact, don't make eye contact..."

These falls were breath taking! (and loud)

*A Post Script: I've been to Yellowstone at least 1/2 dozen times or more. I've NEVER seen a bear. Ever. My niece Holli, went on her honeymoon and was in the Park the same time Ron and I were. She snapped these pictures of a Mama bear and her two cubs... I call NOT FAIR!!

How blessed we are to see such beauty. Heavenly Father is the most amazing artist!

A surprise visit

On our way home from Utah we took a slight detour to New Dale, Idaho, and attended the homecoming (do they still call it that?) meeting of one of our favorite Washington missionaries, Elder Tyler Andreasen. He gave an exceptional talk. His cute mom and dad, Nikki and Eric invited us to have lunch with their family. It turns out that Tyler's grandma and grandpa live in the same town in Utah that I lived in when I was in high school and we know a lot of the same people. Talk about a small world! How fun it was getting to know his awesome family!

We made it up to Idaho Falls early enough to snap some pictures of the temple with the sun coming up directly behind the temple. A jogger stopped and offered to take our picture, and as I was backing up I lost my shoe. I thought for sure it wouldn't show in the picture...but she cut off the spire of the temple and got my shoeless foot! LOL oh well.

We stopped by the Rexburg Temple afterwards. It's beautiful. I really want to go back and go through a session sometime.

We've been able to see two temples so far on this trip..

This is the east side of the Bountiful Temple. The flowers were gorgeous. We sat on this bench right in front of a little cascading waterfall and boy was it HOT! We sat just long enough to snap the picture and then we jumped up! Also, on our way down to Utah Ron surprised me and stopped at the Boise Temple, which is undergoing some serious renovations. It's a smaller looking temple, but beautiful!