Well we have been having a wonderful vacation! We have been making the most of it and we have desperately needed this. We have been having a blast! I will try to do a little rundown. Let's see...
We left June 22 and got here that night. I was starting to finally feel better the day we left. I still couldn't talk, but I was starting to get my voice back on the 23rd, so that was excellent. When you walked out the front door, it smelled like pine. I was in total heaven--I still am!
On the 24th Maryl drove Spencer and me to Portland and we spent most of the week with his aunt and uncle that live there. My Advanced Floral Design class was from the 25th-29th. I LOVED the class. There were only three of us in the class, so we really got to know each other and the instructors. And we got lots of attention, so it was great. I learned so much in my class. I feel so much more optimistic about my designing abilities. The greatest thing I learned is that there are no limits to what you can do. The only limits are your own creativity. If you can think it up then you can do it! Oh I absolutely LOVED it!
Spencer came and spent Wednesday in downtown Portland with me. He walked around Portland while I was in class and came and spent my breaks with me. We had such a fun day and it really made us want to have more time in Portland together. So Wednesday we decided that we wanted to get a hotel for Thursday night. I decided to take an extra class Wednesday night since we were in the area. So I took a Hydrangea Class at the school I was going to. It was really fun. It was just a two hour class all about hydrangea and how to make them last a little better and how to use them. It was so good for me to take that class. When we got back to Spencer's aunt and uncle's house that night we got online and started looking for a hotel for Thursday night. We found a good one that wasn't too expensive and we ended up loving it!
So Thursday Spencer went to my class with me and he walked around again while I was in class. That afternoon he checked into our hotel and then met me to help me walk there after my class was over for the day. We got to the hotel and dropped off our stuff and just relaxed for a little while. THEN we went on a huge walk around Portland because Spencer wanted to show me Washington Park. It was about a 2.5 mile walk from our hotel up to the park, and it was SO worth it. I was exclaiming every few seconds how beautiful it was. I was in absolute heaven. We kept walking up through the park and came to the entrance of the Rose Garden. Oh. My. Goodness! It was so beautiful! So many colors of roses. So vibrant and just breathtaking. We ended up spending hours up in the park/garden. Afterward we ate at a great Pizza place and then made the walk back to our hotel. It was such a fun evening. Spencer and I had such a wonderful night together. It was a great way to celebrate our anniversary (a few days early, but that's okay!).
On our anniversary we spent most of the day at his grandparent's house. He made pizza for dinner so we were able to get away for a little bit to spend some time together so we could run to town and get a few ingredients. The next AMAZING day was the 4th of July. We woke up early and drove to Portland to meet my brother and sister-in-law, Josh and Gail, and their kids. We haven't seen them since we got married, so it had been two years and two days exactly! I was SO excited! We met them at the Rose Garden in Portland and I was ecstatic. We went to the Japanese Garden which was awesome. Since Spencer spent almost eight years in Japan we REALLY wanted to see the Japanese Garden. It was really neat. We took so many pictures. It was gorgeous. After that we walked around the Rose Garden and Washington Park and walked down to eat lunch together. We had such a wonderful time with my family. It was so good to spend time with them. I wanted to cry when we had to say goodbye. I missed them as soon as we left. We had such a fun day with them, I was just so sad to leave them! We drove back to Silverton from Portland and enjoyed the time alone for the drive.
We have just had so much fun up here. We do NOT want to come back to Utah. We are just absolutely loving it here. The next fun day was Thursday when we went to Silver Falls. But I am tired and this is already a super long post, so that will have to wait. So still to come, Thursday, Silver Falls, Saturday, Washington (visiting where Spencer served part of his mission), and Monday (July 9th), New Port, Tillamook, and Astoria. Oh so much fun!!!
