10 year anniversary adventure part 7:Going to the temple, getting our rings polished roaming around down town and picking up kids

Sunday morning was perfect.  We woke up to the sun coming into our hotel room.  We cuddled for a while and enjoyed slowly waking up.  Then we went down to the lobby to eat breakfast, restuart buffet style.  It's always fun to feel a little fancy while on vacation.  After breakfast on our walk back up the our room we passed by the hottube and decided to enjoy a dip before coninuting on adventure.  The hottube was heavenly.  I love LOVE love Jacuzzi  but with three little ones I haven't really had a good Jacuzzi  soak in a while.  So starting our morning out in a warm Jacuzzi was heavenly.  

Shortly before noon we checked out of our Hotel room.  We loaded up the car and drove to the temple.   We had originally planned to attend the temple on Saturday but the day before our vacation in the mix of packing cleaning I accidentally washed James' wallet, Temple Recommend and all.  We talked to the bishop in hopes we could get a replacement quickly but we did have enough time to do both interviews before we left the next day.    

Our walk around the temple grounds was perfect.  One of my favorite pre dating memories is a time James and I walked around the temple grounds after attending institute on week.  James had just gotten back from his mission and a group of friends wanted to stop by the temple before going out to eat.  somehow James and I ended up slip from the group and in a deep conversation about what was next in our lives.   I remember listening to James explain how he had a good paying job that could potentially lead to a good career but he was questioning whether that was what he wanted for himself and his future family.  I was just amazed by his desire to prepare for his future.  Something I hadn't seen a lot of in other peers I had be hanging out with.  

At the time I felt impressed to encourage James to pursue his education.   Thankfully he felt the same need and was happy to hear my thoughts on the matter.  Little did we know that a few weeks later we'd be dating and eventually be married.  

Holding his hand while walking around the temple brought back so many good memories.  

Our attempt for a timed photo where we once had a conversation about the need for both of us to get an education

After we finished walking around the temple we stopped by a fishing store and then James took me to get my wedding rings polished.  We even had James try on rings and someday plan to buy him a new wedding band.  His current ring is just to wide.  He washers his hands all day long at work and with his wide ring it seems to get in the way more.  

After ring shopping we drove to the Portland Rose gardens but it was busy and crowded so we passed on by and went straight to Powell's bookstore.  

Giddy with Excitement

We walked around Powell's for an hour and a half.  Our wish list grew longer and longer, it was so fun.  We ended up buying me a cook book I've wanted for years.  I tried to convince James to get a Netter Medical book he found and wanted really really bad but he didn't want to spend the money. When we got home from our trip he was still talking about the book so I got online and ordered it for him anyway.  He was happy I just did it.  Happy Anniversary Presents are so fun.

We had to add more money to our parking meter so we walked the 6 blocks back to our car added more money and walked back towards Powell's looking for a pizza place.  We couldn't find the one we where looking for so we stopped by some street vendors instead.  Way better choice.  I got Thai pumpkin curry and James had a gyro.  By this time it was getting late and we still needed to drive back home.  So we filled up on gas ($2.25 a gallon what a great deal) and drove back to Max and Rebecca's house to pick up our trailor. 

We visited for a little while and then started our drive up to Longview to pick up the kids.  

We got into Longview around 7pm.  We visited for a bit but I soon realized our kids were crazy tired and just need to get home.  It had been a long exhausting week and it was time to return to normal.  We loaded up three crying kids and drove down the street.  James pulled over a few minutes later, ran inside a store and returned with grapes for the kids to eat.  Once everyone had food in their tummies exhaustion set in and all three kids where asleep.  James and I held hands and we drove the remainder of the way home; ending our perfect 10 year Anniversary adventure 

Day 8 was a Success

Happy Anniversary James.  I love you with all of my heart

Federal Way Woman's Sprite

Saturday morning I woke up bright and early to participate in our stake Sprint Triathlon.  

I participated in team.  Vangie did the swimming portions of the tri, Sarah Day did the biking portion and I did the running.  Since Vangie was so fast in her leg of the event I decided to bike with Sarah a portion of the biking.  It was fun.  Sarah is so strong and fast and enjoyed trying to keep up with her but when I felt I was holding her back I turned around and went back to wait for her to return so I could start the running event when she came in.  

at the finish line

I was lucky enough to get some of my friend my old ward to join me.  We went out for breakfast afterwards.  it was awesome.

If you want to have an awesome tri time get to incredibly athletic friends to do it with you.  I felt so awesome coming in 4th.

10 year anniversary adventure part 6: Sprint Triathlon,sleepover party at Grandma Sharolee's and dinner with Green Grandma

Saturday morning I woke up bright and early to get ready for my sprint Triathlon.  The butterflies in my stomach kept me moving but having James see me off calmed all my nerves.  Since the girls were still sleeping James stayed behind to help get them up and ready for the day.  

Pre Race picture before 

Once a checked in for the tri I met up with Sharolee and Rebecca.  

Waiting to start.  First up: the swimming

Rebecca on her last leg of the swimming portions

My swim time was about 12 minutes.  I was super proud of myself and I did free style the whole way.  

We quickly changed and got ready for the bike portion, since we knew we'd be splitting up the rest of the race we took our group photo here.  I text James telling him the I'd text before I started my run but then I put my phone in my bag and didn't get it back until after the race.  Sorry James.  

 Meanwhile while James was waiting for my second text telling him I had started my run, he took the kids down the park and waited.

I finished my race at 11:15 am  and roughly estimated my time was about 1:43 minutes.  I was so happy with my results I just wished I could find my phone.  Not long after I finished Rebecca finished and I was about to use her phone to call James when i found my bag.  Hurray!  The James and the kids arrived just in time to watch Grandma Sharolee finish.  And then we all ate lunch.  

 After the race we went back to Red Grandma's house.  The girls found a cute little tin with kittens painted on it and inside were hairbows.  Grandma told the girls they could have it.  Thank you Grandma. 

looking at hair ties with Grandma Sharolee

Everett and Red Grandma had a good time playing with Mr. Potato Heads.  Together they assembled 6 Mr. Potato heads.  It was so fun watching them play together.  The giggles that came from those two where priceless.

After playing for a couple of hours we finally loaded up all the kids stuff into Grandma Sharolee's car and she took them back to her place for a special sleepover.  Thank you Grandma Sharolee.

James and I then got to have the rest of the day to ourselves.  It was wonderful.  We first reserved a hotel room at the Grand Hotel close to the temple, and then we went and checked in.  

After getting settled into the hotel room I decided to lighten up my diaper bag since I didn't need to carry with me so much stuff.  I found it funny all the stuff I pulled out of my bag.  

Wallet, applesauce, phone charger and cord, swim goggles, ear drops, toy ball, Everett's stick, Grace's bear and eagle, two granola bars, one fruit strip, three cars, one tiny penguin, diaper rash creme, ear plugs, lotion, hair tie, craft clasp, and some caulk.  

 After relaxing in our hotel room for a while we drove to Rebecca and Max's home to drop off our trailer for the night.  We didn't want to have to tow it around while we explored Portland and we enjoyed visiting with Max and Rebecca for a while.  It's always fun to get together with family.  After visiting for a while, James and I took off and made our way to the Sphettghi factory.  Green Grandma (Marion Roemhildt) wanted to take Rob and Max out to dinner for their birthdays and invited us to come along.  Thank you Green Grandma for the wonderful dinner.

After dinner James and I found ourselves wondering around a Goodwill Store downtown Portland.  James found a clarinet for 10.00 that he plans to fix up for the kids and I picked up several fun books for homeschool.  After the store closed was walked along the river front, enjoy the view and holding hands.

James took this picture for me  

After a peaceful walk we drove back to our hotel room for the remainder of the night.

Day 7 was a success

10 year anniversary Adventure part 5: Chiloquin house and more Crater Lake

Friday morning was our last day at the Resort.   The girls slept in so James and Everett decided to make breakfast.  

My boys in the kitchen

After breakfast we went swimming one last time.  

  

After swimming we went back to the hotel room and got ready to leave.  While changing children's clothes I tried to convince Grace to wear her pretty star shirt.  She refused but Everett begged to wear the "Twinkle Twinkle" Shirt.  I try to not push gender stereotypes on my children, so I let him wear his sister's shirt ( was a bit reluctant at first but I don't mind if my girls wear ninja turtles so I felt I needed to let him express his likes as well).  He was so happy.  

After we packed up our belongings we drove into Klamath Falls to fill up our gas tank and to our tummies.  I was mistaken we ate out twice.  Gwenevere wanted a drum stick from Fred Meyers James ate a sandwich and I picked some chicken nuggets and a milkshake for me and the two little ones.

On are way back through Crater Lake we drove my old house in Chiloquin.  I remember there being more trees but maybe I am mistaken.  It was so fun to show the girls the big rocks we used to climb on, the little guest house that we loved and the big field where was once or twice raised cafs.

On the first day at Crater lake we saw a National Parks passport stamp book and throught it was cool.  We decided not to get it since we collect squished pennies, but when we were at the Lava Bed National Monument we decided the stamp passport was too cool to pass by a second time.  So we picked up the passport and our first stamp.

So today when we back to Crater Lake we were excited to put another stamp in our book.  Our first stop was the Information center and then to the lookout.  The sky was clear and the air felt warm.  It was perfect.  The kids were so happy and we had a blast exploring the lake and taking pictures.

We took the kids on a little hike up to and old lookout station.  We found snow up the trail and the girls were happy as can be.  Everett slept in my backpack while we climbed.  Both girls talked no stop the whole hike and James and I took turns holding their hands and listening to their stories.  Sometimes their non stop talking drains me but on this day, both James and I stoked it all up.  Fun family memories.

First snowball of the season

The girls had to touch every snow pile we came across

The girls imagined this old tree was a cabobin sled ( I have no idea how you spell it) 

climbing rocks at the top

Throughout are exploration of Crater Lake we had learned that the first European Americans called Crater Lake Deep blue Lake but I was curious to know the name the native tribes called it.  So when we were at the top of the Forest Ranger station and I saw this sign and I so excited.  

The view of our hike. 

When we arrived back at the car everyone we pretty hungry.  So we made some sandwiches and cookies and then continued our drive to the North entrance.

On our way out of the park we could see smoke rising from the burnt ground right next to the road.  The drive was a bit smokey for a while but then it disappeared.

The rest of the drive back to Portland was beautiful.  The kids played games with each other, read books and even got some time to play on our phones.  James and I enjoyed to hours talking to each other planning our next big adventures and reminiscing the past few days.

We stopped in Eugene to get hot chocolate and get the kids into Pajamas.

We arrived back at Red Grandma's house (Nancy Wilcox) around 11am.  Once again all three kids stayed asleep while we transferred them into bed.  A miracle.

Shortly after midnight I finally feel asleep excited and slightly nervous for tomorrows adventure.

Day 6 was a success

10 year anniversary adventure Part 4: Lava Bed National Monument and friends.

Thursday morning we woke up celebrating our official 10 year anniversary day.  James had been up most of the night helping kids fall back to sleep.  I was unaware of all the night roaming and feeling sorry for James decided to give Papa some time to catch up on sleep.  The kids and I ate breakfast and hung out did laundry and watched TV while Papa slept.  Then we hit the open road for some more fun.  Off to the Lava Bed National Monument.  

We drove to California.  Yippee covering three states so far.  The drive with breath taking and Everett slept which was a bonus.  

I love puffy clouds.  James took this picture for me.

Cute family fun

When we arrived at the information Center we explored the museum and checked out some big flash lights.  James talked with a ranger about the best caves to explore and we all got excited to go  underground.  

watching an ant carry a large bread crumb. 

The first Cave we descended was called Mushpot.  It's a great beginner cave.  The cave was lit the entire way with signs describing lava flow terminology.  The kids really enjoyed exploring this cave   

We saw a hawk. 

Mushpot entrance

 

Next we explored Valentine Cave.  It was discovered by Euro Americans on Valentine's day. The cave had several divisions.  We enjoyed taking turns picking the direction we would go.  This tunnel was a bit scarey for Gwenevere and Grace.  Their were low points where you had to crawl and Papa had the girls turn off all their lights to see what total darkness felt like.  It was a good experience for everyone.  

 

After exploring Valentine cave for a while we decided to check out one last cave even though the girls where vocal about not going in another cave.  this time I carried Grace in my backpack and James carried Everett in his arms.  We went to Skull cave.  This cave is named because when it was discovered by Euro Americans it had lots of animal bones in it.  Probably for Modoc spiritual purposes.  The cave entrance was HUGE lighting the cave a good 100 yard in.  The light seemed to easy the girls fears and then we started our decent down three flights of stairs.  When we reached the bottom we saw Ice in the chamber.  The girls LOVED it.  We hurryed back to the information center to return our lights before they closed but wished we had time to explore more.  I guess we'll have to come back.  ;-)

After Leaving the Lava National Monument we drove to our friends house for dinner.  The kids had so much fun playing with O and M and I thoroughly enjoyed talking with Brenley about homeschooling.  We are blog buddies and this was the first time meeting since probably bumping into each other through the Fanno Creek ward.  

It was getting late so we said our goodbyes and headed back to the resort.  

Once we finally got all the kids to sleep James and I enjoyed some cuddle time eating cheese cake.  That night all the kids slept through the night.  

Day 5 was definitely a success.