Warning: Information Overload - Our trip to Portland

guys. I've been playing catch up with the blog and have been so excited to re-live the memories of our Fall Break 2012.... Our road trip to Portland, Oregon! My cute sister Katie, her husband and their three kids live there so we went to visit.

first of all - we had a tender mercy. our car had been having some problems but Kyron did everything he could do to get it ready for our trip. The day we were heading out to go, Kyron came to pick me up from the U and smoke started coming out from under the hood while he was waiting. we were so sad and nervous. we headed out to kaysville and luckily, Kyron's parents let us borrow their truck to drive there. what a blessing that our car freaked out before we left, instead of in the middle of nowhere on our drive! such a blessing.

we were a little late but we were on our way! the drive was a fun reminder of our honeymoon road trip. it was such a fun time to just talk to each other and relax. 

Saturday and Sunday we spent watching LDS General Conference. it was so amazing! I can't believe it's time for conference again in just a few weeks. I couldn't be more excited :)

anyway. we filled our days with delicious food and adventures. seriously. we had the best time! even just staying at home and playing with the kids was such a treat for us. boy do we love those little ones. aren't they the cutest?? we had a party every night trying to put them to bed. a little FHE and scripture study was a full on play. so fun. Katie and Griffin are the best parents.

some of our adventures were visiting the Portland temple. so gorgeous. and we had some delicious CPK afterwards!

Katie and I of course took the chance to go shopping at the local boutiques. we may or may not be shopaholics so it just worked out perfectly. then we met up with the husbands at a mexican restaurant. (a conference weekend tradition!)

visiting the waterfalls. we were blown away at the beauty of these! it was so fun to be outside in such fresh air. it never even rained on us! it was too good to be true.

we went to the park and for a few walks around the neighborhood. we went to the riverfront and ate our delicious bacon and oreo covered donuts. (yay for Voodoo donuts)

they are living right by Lake Oswego so we went by the shore there and fed the ducks. and we went around to the plazas and got ourselves some delicious treats there!

[[clearly this trip revolved around food. good thing we did lots of other active things to make up for it! so worth it.]]

we went to the beach. i think my two favorite things were combined. we went on a hike and ended up at the ocean. who could ask for anything more?? loved every minute of it. we walked over to haystack rock and built some lovely sand castles. we dipped our toes in the water and ran around having way too much fun. it was such a glorious day!! then we went to the little restaurant on the beach there and had some fabulous clam chowder. (and ice cream too, naturally)

we went to the portland zoo! it was a busy day and just tons of fun. it's a big zoo! then we did a quick tour of the Rose Garden. everyone kept saying it wasn't a good time to see it but holy cow, it was incredible! the flowers were so beautiful and the view was outstanding. it was super fun to just drive around the town and see the beauty of oregon.

we also got to ride the tram over the city at night and it was so beautiful! 

Kyron and I decided that we would most definitely love to live there someday... or at least go back and visit again :)