Oregon Here We Come!!!

What a wild trip!!!! We had SO much fun!! For those who don't know the story here it goes.....
Breezy is one of my 2 very best friends that I have had since age 11 or so (Breezy came at age 12) Breezy lives in Texas and per her divorce she can leave Texas for 30 days with her kids once a year. She went to see her mom and dad in Idaho. Her dad flies helicopters for a company that contracts with the forest service. So he was out fighting fires. Her mom drives his fuel truck so they were both gone. Breezy was beyond bored as were her kids. So they came down to my house. That night she got there Danita called (she knew she would be there) from Europe. She had a week left on her trip. Breezy and I had decided we couldn't afford to go to Oregon to see Danita. After our 2 hour long phone call we decided we HAD to go! We needed a car.... I called a lady in my ward to see if we could borrow her suburban. No answer. Then I realized my dad has a suburban! So I called him up he said yes a week later we left! She and I and 7 children!!!! Yes we are nuts! We then realized we should find places to sleep. We called her sister who is selling a house in Hillsboro(where we grew up together). She said we could stay but there is no furniture. So we packed air mattresses. Next we needed a place at the beach. SO EXPENSIVE! So we called Danita's mom (we didn't tell Danita I was coming)to see if she knew anyone. She had a house that she had just kicked out the tenants who weren't paying. Woo Hoo another free place to stay. Only she kind of let it slip that I was coming.... We tried to cover it up. She kind of ate it but not entirely.

Our first day we were on the road ALL DAY LONG. Neither of us like to get up. So we got out of bed an hour later then we wanted. It took longer to pack the suburban then we thought. Then we kept remembering things. The night before Joe had taken the older kids to see Transformers. Well then he went to take them to say bye to G-ma and G-pa Eames. He left them there! So we had to go get them too. Then my dad called to say he found the star wrench in the garage. So we had to go to his house too! FINALLY at 11:30 we were out of there! We stopped in Snowville and let the kids play at the park and we ate lunch. All was well until Boise....

Just as we came into Boise the AC stopped working and the car started making a funny sound. We called both our dads and they both said the AC compressor went out. Get to Oregon ASAP. No extra stops. So we opened the windows. Said a prayer. And we booked it all night til 2 am to Hillsboro. We crashed hard and then went to church the next day.

My mom had NO idea I was coming. We just showed up. She was so surprised! She fell to the groundhugging my kids that she didn't even notice I was there! We got to see so many people we knew as the adults we grew up with, our old bishop who cried when he saw us together, friends we grew up with that met in the same ward or building. It was awesome! We left church and just as we left the parking lot the car made a horrid sound and then we lost the power steering. We went back to Cindy and Earls. Changed the kids and went to my moms. Called my dad and said "get to moms now". The serpentine belt broke! Just our luck. So we were stranded in Hillsboro til it got fixed. Fortunately, Lindy's(my sister) boyfriend is a mechanic and he was going to fix it.

Monday I went out with Breezy to go shopping and to lunch. We decided to call her old Jr high flame Mike to see if he was still around. He answered! He invited us to lunch! It was way fun but it wasn't the same as we remember him.... Poor Breezy.... Hee hee. We then went to Ross and I found WAY too much. Then I left her to go out for a while my old boyfriend who is still one of my best friends. We came back to my moms and it was time to get ready to surprise Danita!!! We had told her all the moms and a few others are going to Red Robin. She was on her way back home from teh beach so she said she would stop in. Only it was me and Breezy who got out of my moms van!!! She was SOOOOOO surprised. On Saturday as we were driving she had called me to see when Breezy had left cuz she couldn't get a hold of her. I told her she had left around 11 and that she may not have a good signal and to try her soon. Then I yelled at Ryan to quit fighting and if he couldn't then he would have to go to his room. I got her with that one. She didn't know I was coming after all! Mom kept ALL the kids overnight and the 3 of us had a slumber party!

Tuesday the car was able to go to the shop. We spent the morning and lunch time at the park having a picnic with Debbie Fry, some of her kids, mom and my sisters and brothers, Mindy K (my other best friend from HS after B&D left Hillsboro)My kids got to play with her kids. Kaylee and Riley are Brynn and Ryan's age and both a girl and boy! She SOOOO needs to move by me so our families can hang out! It was a nice morning. We hung out at my moms again. We should have gone to my dads. He was there part of the time trying to fix Becky's car. Breez and I had enough of being stranded so when my mom got back home we took Chelsie to Young Womens and we went to Target. When we got back mom thought we had gone to Cheesecake Factory. Breezy was trying to go to dinner alone with Mike (from monday) Well he blew her off. So we went. We called Danita just as she was headed home. So she met us there and we had a blast! We went back to my moms at 11. The suburban was all done!! Mom kept all the kids AGAIN. So we had another slumber party.

Wednesday we all headed to the beach!!!!! What a perfect day. We went to Indian Beach. Just between Seaside and Can- non Beach. It's kind of hid- den. We took SO many pictures. It was Ryan's first time ever at a beach and sort of Brynn's. She was 8 months old. Katya and Tay hadn't been to the Oregon coast in 6 years! So it was WAY fun. The weather was gorgeous! We had to go put on our suits it was so warm! The kids found a dead jelly fish. Some guy caught a crab. Katya lost her sunglasses in the tide pools. A seagull ate Marina's sandwich. They dug huge holes and buried themselves. Climbed rocks. It was a very good day. We stayed til 7 that night. We went to the house and made spaghetti. The kids fell asleep right after they ate. They didn't wake up til 9!













Off to Tillamook and the cheese factory!!! What a great place. In all the years growing up there I had never been. The kids had a great time watching them make and package cheese. Then we ate the ice cream they make there. Next we went to the a GIANT blimp hangar. It was SO huge a full size passenger jet like Delta ect... could fly right through it!! After that we headed to Seaside to do some shopping, ride the carousel, and play at the beach again. Becky(my sister) and Jake(her husband) joined us there. I got the cutest shirts for my kids and a great sweatshirt for me and now Marina and I match! We stopped and got pizza on the way home. Ate and went to bed. We were all exhausted!

Friday....our last day at the beach....(stupid car...) We got up too late to see the tide pools in the morning so we headed to Astoria and Long Beach, Wa. In Long Beach we saw Jake the Alligator man. (Google him). We also saw the worlds largest frying pan. We bought a hermit crab too!

In Astoria we ate lunch at the Bow- picker. Its and old boat turned fish and chips place. It is quite popular and fabulous food! My kids scarfed it!

Then it was off to the Astoria Column. We climbed 164 stairs to the top. Then back down them. We all sprawled on the ground at the bottom and Danita stayed up top and took out pictures as though we had fallen. It was awesome. We met another Katia. All the kids wanter her picture with them. We then drove up to see Mikey's house from Goonies. After that we went to Cannon Beach to catch the tide pools and some more shopping. The tide pools are dumb now. You can't climb around them and actually see sea life. They have all these signs that say "don't go past here" really dumb. My mom and brothers and sister showed up. We headed to town to get last minute shopping done and then we went back to the house to get ready for dinner and we had a small b-day party for my brother Caleb. He turned 8 and will be getting baptized Labor Day weekend. Dinner was at Danita's families restaurant. Her dad is the chef and her mom the hostess. Her sisters are servers. I used to help there too. A long time ago... I hadn't seen Dad in 6 years so it was REALLY good to see him and eat his food. Mmmmmmmmmm!!!!!
We had dessert for our appetizer. YUM! We bought huge dessert sampler for our babysitters and headed back home.


We got up late again. Can you believe it?! We had to go home that day. No one wanted to. We packed really fast. And then we went back to Seaside to get last last minute things. By noon we were out of there.

We stopped at the Vista House near Multnomah Falls to stretch and use the toilet. The views were amazing! We drove past the falls and took the old highway and saw tons of really neat things.


















We met Breezy's mom in Boardman, Or. We visited for an hour or so and then decided we should get their stuff moved to the other car. It was gettin late and I wasn't sure I would make it home. So I called my sister to find me a place to stay in Boise. She just moved from there this June. Her old visiting teacher was more then happy to have us stay. Peg was amazing! We showed up at 12:30 am. She drove out to meet us so we could find her house easier. Then as I was unloading what we needed she was feeding my kids a snack and making them feel comfortable. She had beds all ready for us and everything! The next morning she fixed breakfast and sent us on our way. We got home around dinner time and boy was daddy happy to see us! We told daddy all about our trip and all the fun things we saw. We were happy to be home. We are excited for our next adventure. We are going to New Mexico in Oct.

If you read all this you deserve a prize!