Oregon

So here are all the pictures of our big move. We picked up the U-haul at 9 in the morning and then headed to the D.I. to buy a box spring. (Don't worry, they sell brand new ones). After buying that, we went to Chris' grandma's house to pick up a dresser and a bed frame. After getting those we then headed to my parents storage unit to get most of our furniture. We got our couch, bookcase, coffee table, shelves, and the pink and white striped couch seat. Thanks to everyone who donated furniture to us. The rest of the day we spent finishing packing, figuring out how to make everything fit in the U-haul and loading the U-haul. We said our goodbyes to Chris' parents and headed to my parents to hook the trailer up to the back of the truck.

This is Chris' car filled to the brim:

My cute mom and cute niece Bana

Saying our goodbyes: (this one's not real since my dad drove the u-haul and trailer to Oregon with us)






After our goodbyes we were on our way. It was so hard to say goodbye, but Chris cheered me up fairly easily, it was hard to be sad when we were so excited for our new adventure.

This was our view most of the drive.

Finally making it into Oregon!

We passed some interesting people on the drive...


"I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Weiner!"

Where are all the trees everyone told us were all over oregon?

Passing La Grande, the only place I've ever been in Oregon, where I went to basketball camp 4 summers in a row and had such good times.

This is what Chris calls a "squorist" (square+forest) We passed a few of these in Oregon. They were literally square forests-very cool!

This is a crappy picture, but this is the Columbia River that we followed for several hours into Portland. We both thought it was an extremely long lake until we mentioned it to each other and realized it was a river haha. They don't have rivers anywhere near this big in Utah!

Columbia River dam (I think)


We drove past a lot of cool bridges.

Mt. Hood

Now these are REAL forests-getting close to Portland. I love all the trees here!

We finally made it!

Moving into our place:
the bathroom with no vanity our counter or anything.

bedroom

2nd bedroom

kitchen-(note: objects in picture are smaller than they appear) this picture makes our kitchen look bigger than it really is.

living room

I'll have to post more pictures once we have everything organized...unfortunately it doesn't look much better than when we moved in. After we moved in Saturday my dad wanted to take us out for one last dinner so we drove around the town for a while but couldn't find any sit down restaurants! We finally found an interesting little mexican place on Main Street, but mostly everything here is pizza places. On Sunday we drove my dad out to the airport and had quite a time finding our way there since the freeway we needed to take was closed. I had a hard time after he left, I think it finally hit me that we were all alone in this state, with no family nearby. Monday thru Friday of the next week we pretty much spent everyday driving to Hillsboro, a bigger town that actually has stores like Target so we could buy little things we needed to make our apartment work. On Thursday we went to Indian Beach and it was FREEZING! Unfortunately we were not expecting that since it had been record breaking heat all weak. It felt pretty good though since we have no AC in our place and have been so sweaty all the time. We also met a bunch of optometry students and their wives at the beach from the ward.
The beach was beautiful despite the cold.


We are still working on getting everything "oregonized" (as Chris likes to joke all the time) but we are loving it here! Other than having to drive 25 minutes to get to good stores we love our little town. I love all the trees everywhere and all the green. We are really excited to spend the next 4 (hopefully 3) years here! And we're hoping I get a job really soon since Chris starts school in a week!

The Big Move

We made it to Oregon! We split the 12 hour drive into 2 days and I have lots of pictures to put up of our drive and our new place, but we don't have internet at our place yet. So I will update soon...but so far we are loving it up here! Oregon is gorgeous!

Pertinent Data

Since I haven't blogged all summer, here is a list of all the awesome things we have done so far, are going to do and other important/random things.

1. We are moving to Oregon in less than 3 weeks. We are so excited and really sad at the same time.
2. We hiked the Subway in Zion just a few weeks ago and it was the coolest hike I have ever done.
3. We are finally replacing our wedding rings, and I must say I am so excited to have my ring again!
4. We went on a trip to southern Utah with Chris' family and had a blast! We owned everyone in Rook down there.
5. Chris turned 25 this summer and I will finally be 21!
6. I only have one more week of classes!!!!
7. We are going to Bear Lake this weekend with my family for some awesome boating.
8. We went shopping at Bed Bath and Beyond the other week and the Bump It is now for sale there. I was so tempted to buy one...
9. We were called to be nursery leaders this summer. There are some adorable kids in there and some stinkers as well. I'm always amazed every week at how exhausted I am by the time I sit down for sacrament meeting; it's not easy keeping 6 little tykes happy.
10. We had our 6 month anniversary in July! We celebrated by eating out at the Cheesecake Factory and had the BEST food (and cheesecake) ever!

P.S. If anyone is considering buying an engagement ring or wedding ring, buy it from Shane Co! They are the best and have been so awesome and helpful in replacing our rings. I highly, highly recommend them.

Graduation and Zion!

Chris graduated last month! He's finally all mine to play with! (At least for a couple of months anyway.)

After his graduation ceremony!


Zion!
To celebrate Chris graduating we went camping in Zion for 5 days. It was so much fun!

on our way down.


This is Chris half-heartedly posing. I was trying to get him to show how confusing the tent was to figure out how to set up, but he didn't want to cooperate.


Then he forced me to do a victory pose after we finally figured it out.


At the top of our first hike-Watchman's Trail, the Watchman is directly behind our heads.


Later that day on the Riverside Walk.



Chris at our campsite.


Our view and sunset from our campsite, we had a great view of the West Temple which is the tallest peak in Zion.


Roasting starbursts!



Observation Point
Observation Point hike is the longest hike (8 miles round trip)and takes you to the very top of a peak with the most incredible view!

heading into some amazing canyons




The amazing view from the top of Observation Point!






Heading back down


Caterpillars were all over the place and so were their cocoons!

We found this cocoon in the zipper of our sleeping bag!


Hidden Canyon
The trail was carved right into the side.


The secret arch we found.


At the top of Angels landing.


We had such an awesome time in Zion! We tried to do all of the hikes but fell just a few short of a complete sweep. At the end of our trip my parents came down to join us for a couple of hikes and we were really grateful that they let us shower at their hotel! Unfortunately, when we got home from our trip we found that our house had been broken into and our wedding rings were stolen. I knew something wasn't right as soon as I walked into our bedroom and when I found my ring case open and empty and my jewelry box strewn apart I started bawling. It was a miserable experience but we have so much to be grateful for, the burglar walked right past our laptops, gps, and Chris' guitars but didn't take any of them. We really miss our rings but we'll replace them someday!

The Bump It

Anyone want to look like a conehead? Order the bump it! I saw a commercial on tv for the bump it a while ago, and I immediately had to find it on youtube to show to Chris. I have friends that call it "box hair," but whatever you may call it, it is not attractive! According to my sister-in-law who has lived many other places than Utah, the big bumped up hair is just a Utah thing, so sadly I think the bump it will find a lot of business here. Chris and I get a kick out of bump it hair and we saw the biggest most extreme bumped hair last week at a viewing. It was bumped out all around this girls head, from ear to ear, not just in the back. Do people really think that is an attractive look? Maybe it's just me...my hair is so thick that I'm always trying to flatten it down and get it under control. Anyway, not only is the bump it a funny item, I hope you enjoy the commercial and how professional it is!(Not)