A Wonderful Weekend in Oregon

Two weekends ago we took a fun trip up to Oregon and visited Jonathan's family. We had such a wonderful time, I love being there with them at their house and it is so relaxing (despite all the work we do while home :)) to be away from the city. I have been meaning to put these up for awhile now, so here you have it - a big long post with lots and lots of pictures. Hope you enjoy!

Here is the boy in his car seat. This was probably like midnight on Thursday night, stopped at some random gas station in Idaho. As you can see, James did so well in the car and was such a happy boy.


We totally meant to leave a lot earlier, but it always seems to take much longer to get ready (especially with a baby) than we plan on. Oh well, we had fun anyway, we left around 7 or 7:30, picked up some *yummy* breakfast burritos for dinner (from Albertos - they have THE best breakfast burritos!) and then got on the road. We finally got to Jonathan's parents' house around 2 in the morning!

So the reason we went in the first place was that Jonathan had some job interviews in Boise (Did I ever mention we're moving to Boise? Well, we are, and we are totally excited and we hope everything will work out soon so we can move up there before the weather gets bad.) So, here is my handsome hubby looking all nice for his job interviews.


Here are my two handsome boys -



Here is a pretty picture of my in-laws' farm - I LOVE going there so much (minus the bad allergies) and it is so pretty in the fall.



We had a lot of fun hanging out with just Mom and Dad and Jonathan's youngest siblings - usually when we're there a lot of the other siblings are home, but this time we just got to spend some fun one-on-one time with Rebecca, Anna and Spencer. I love these guys, they are hilarious and so sweet and fun to be with. Here is a picture of Rebecca playing the guitar.


James is one lucky boy to have so many aunts and uncles - here he is with Uncle Spencer. By the way, I just want to say that Spencer is awesome, he is such a great guy and I cannot believe how TALL he is getting and how much he is growing up. He was WAY shorter when I met the family 3 1/2 years ago...


While we were home we helped paint the outside of the house and stain the deck - it looks so good! We had a fun time and listened to music on my ihome while we painted. By the way, I have to say that I love how it is fall and is getting cooler outside - fall is the BEST season, I love it! Here are Spencer, Rebecca, and Anna working on the deck.


Jonathan's Mom painting the house. She is the greatest, I just love her so much - she is so much fun to be around.


Cute Anna


Definitely a Boster boy . . . definitely.


Me and Jonathan


Here I am in all my loveliness, in my awesome work clothes and wispy, weird hair. Gotta love it.


We found some new little kittens --- and I have to admit (I am NOT a fan of cats, at ALL) --- they were pretty darn cute. Too bad a couple of them died...


We had to run into town (which in this case was Nyssa, Oregon) to get a battery recharged, and unfortunately also to get our car looked at, which was making an AWFUL noise (it didn't sound that bad before we left Salt Lake, I promise!) so we hung out at Jonathan's Dad's office for a little while. James had lots of fun exploring and playing with toys while Jonathan and I watched an episode of Lost on the computer (side note - after much trying, my family finally got us to watch Lost and we LOVE it!). It turned out that we needed a new drive axle (sounds pretty important...luckily it wasn't TOO expensive, since we recently bought all new tires for our car...we weren't really in the mood to spend too much money...) and we had to stay an extra day in Oregon - which was actually so much fun! It's always nice to extend your vacation :) Anyway, here is a picture of James hanging out at Grandy's office.


Church was fun, it was the Primary program in their ward that day and that is always entertaining, right? Well James was pretty darn fussy (you gotta love church right during nap time) and would not stay still and quiet at all during the meeting, except when the little kids sang. The sister who was leading the music was sitting a couple of rows behind us and would stand in the aisle to conduct - whenever she started conducting James would stand backwards on the bench and just WATCH her, mesmerized. And then he started conducting with his little arms - it was the funniest/cutest thing. We were so glad whenever the primary kids started singing because we knew he would be quiet for at least a minute or two!

We got to visit a little with our friend Karli and took some cute pictures of Karli's little boy Grayson and James. These boys are about a month apart and they are both growing up so fast!



The drive home on Monday was pretty uneventful, except that at the very beginning James was NOT a happy camper. We were barely getting out of Boise (only about 40 minutes away from the Bosters' house, so we had a LONG way to go...) and he was just screaming and throwing a tantrum in his car seat. We wanted to get on the road and for some reason or another were not in the greatest of moods, so it was quite the experience. We pulled over at a rest stop and the second we got the little guy out of his seat he was happy as a clam (why are clams so happy?). He was so proud of himself for crying hard enough that the parentals gave him his way. It was pretty funny, but cute nonetheless - this boy is impossible to be mad at, he just flashes those cute little pearly whites with the little gap in between and you melt. So we decided we should probably feed him. I, however, couldn't find any bibs and Jonathan was busy washing the windows of the car (he worked as a window washer for like three years - he can't stand it when they are dirty, and he takes pride and much care and time in getting every little bug off) - so I decided to just try holding him on my lap and feeding him with no bib or protection for my white shirt. It didn't work out so well, and I ended up with squash on my shirt, but it sure made for a funny memory.



Then James wanted a turn driving the car like Daddy, so we let him play for a little while before getting back on the road. I absolutely love this picture. Although you can't see his little smile, you can totally tell he is enjoying himself by the look in his eye. I guess he felt all-powerful while at the wheel of such a big car.