Two Years Old

I interrupt our Oregon travelog for this birthday post...

Two Years.  730 days.  How has it been so many days since you were born?  It seems like just yesterday you were born, but I cannot imagine our lives without you.  You have brought so much happiness into our lives and so many smiles and memories to our home.  You have given both me and dad so much more purpose in our lives and have helped us want to be better people.  You have taught us to love and take care of each other better.  It all sounds so cliche but it is all true. 

Asher, at two years old you are such an amazing little boy.  Some things that really stand out to me is how sweet, sensitive and smart you are.  

You are so sweet.  You really love people and love them hard.  You love us as your parents, and you love your grandparents, cousins, and friends.  I love how you know all 10 cousins by name, and frequently talk about them even when it has been awhile since we've seen them.  You light up when we say we are going to our grandparents' houses.  And you are obsessed with your neighborhood and nursery friends.  You especially love your best friend and constantly want to hold her hand, give her hugs and give her kisses.  It is so amazing to see your love.  You are so thoughtful and say thank you to me and dad all day long. After breakfast it's 'thank you mama for eating' and after a nap it's 'thank you mama for sleeping'.

You are so sensitive.  Loud noises or scary things make you cry.  It is kind of heartbreaking but you are just so tender.  When other kids steal your toys, you always cry but you never hit or push.  You got a bad guy for your birthday and immediately you said "me no like it."  You could tell it was a mean guy and it scared you.  At the bird show at the zoo, you were mesmerized, but as soon as the macaw let out his loud screech you were in tears.  I love how sensitive you are.

You are so smart.  I love watching you learn and watching your little brain work.  You are talking so much now and basically can say anything we say.  You are constantly repeating things to us and talk in full sentences.  You communicate so well and are so fun to have around.  You love your colors and constantly are pointing out everything around you and saying what color it is.  

You love so many things.  You love your toys, especially legos, cars, trucks, small animals and squinkies.  You will sit quietly and play alone for the longest time, some days hours.  You love to be home and just playing.  You love milk and always want it before bed.  You don't always want to take a nap, but once you are in your crib you sleep for 2-3 hours.  You love your pillow, blankies, and stuffed animals.  You love most all fruits, cheese, sandwiches, carrots, cucumbers, lemonade, rice, and quesadillas.  Most of all you love sucking your thumb.

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Asher loved his birthday and basically ran around all day saying "my happy birthday".  It was so cute and so much fun.  

I made Asher a latch board following this blog post and he seems to really like it.  (Although I used one piece of wood that I bought from home depot and had them cut down for me, rather than jig sawing a board together from lots of different pieces like he did.) I think it turned out pretty cute too.  

Oregon {The Coast}

We left Eugene and headed straight west towards the coast.  The coast days were some of my favorites -- it was so incredibly beautiful.  We just drove, stopping at state parks or beaches or whatever looked beautiful and appealing to us.

Haceta Head Lighthouse (near Florence):

Asher absolutely loved the ocean.  He was so cute, running around in circles and giggling.  All trip he kept saying "ocean" and "beach".

North Bend / Coos Bay Areas:

Bandon:

We ended that night in the cutest little motel in Bandon.  GORGEOUS!  We spent that night at the beach just down the stairs from our motel.  It was pretty cold and really windy, and Asher's nose was getting all runny, but he did not want to leave that beach.  He was so happy to explore, run in circles, stomp his feet on any bumps in the sand, and run as fast as he could straight towards dad.  It was really cute.

The next morning we explored the quaint coastal city.  After a little breakfast, walking out on the tiny boardwalk, and a visit to the candy shop we continued our drive down the coast.

Port Orford:

Gold Beach:

(delicious fish n chips and clam chowder at the cutest Barnicle Bistro)

Brookings:

There was a beautiful beach here, Harris beach, but Asher was fast asleep at this point.  We decided to let him sleep and kept driving.  All the way to:

The Redwoods (Just outside Crescent City, California):

We had so much fun hiking through Stout's Grove.  Asher loved the giant trees and kept talking about the ones that were broken (fallen down).  After about half of the hike we let him get down and he and Marcus had a blast exploring, climbing, crawling through tunnels, and just being boys.

and then we headed inland and spent the night in Medford (where Mike & Elise live).

...to be continued with our adventures with Mike & Lise...

Oregon {Part 1}

Nine days

One flight to Portland

1200 miles logged in our rental car

Six hotels and endless pit stops along the way

Eugene, Bandon, Medford, Bend, Salem, Portland

Countless beaches, hikes, waterfalls, and gorgeous green parks

Delicious restaurants, donuts and ice cream

One flight to Salt Lake, and,

we're home!

How do you sum up a vacation in a blog post?  Either in one gigantic long post or broken up in multiple posts...both sound daunting at this point.  I'm going to break it up into sections of our trip as best I can.  Here goes round one...

Background:

Marcus served his mission in Oregon and we've wanted to go back to visit for years, so when my sister and her husband moved there for the summer we figured it was the perfect opportunity.  Marcus planned the best trip for us - he mapped out where we should go, keeping our days flexible and unstructured but getting us destinations and hotels each night.  It was such an adventure.  We spent many, many hours in the car, but it was gorgeous pretty much everywhere we went and Asher was sure a trooper.  He napped in the car or was pretty happy reading books or playing with his little toys.  He was such a little cutie to have with us.  I loved exploring and felt that by road tripping it we got to see so much of this pretty state.

First stop: Portland temple.  Man that temple is gorgeous!  We then headed towards Eugene.  On the way we stopped at McDowell Creek Falls near Lebanon and hiked to some waterfalls.

I think I was most surprised by how green everything was and that there were farms and nurseries EVERYWHERE.  There were thousands and thousands of Christmas tree farms and it really was all so picturesque and fun to see.

Elise and Mike were able to drive up to meet us in Eugene and camped out in our hotel room with us that night.  We stayed up playing farkle and had such a good time with them.

We enjoyed a delicious waffle breakfast at Off the Waffle, played and explored in gorgeous, green parks, and went to the Saturday's market there in Eugene.  

This picture is blurry but it pretty much sums up Asher's excitement to get to hang out with Lise & Mike.  He asked for them every single day of our trip that we weren't with them.

We also were able to visit with one of Marcus' converts which was a really sweet experience.  It was neat for me to get to see a little bit of that side of Marcus.  We also found all of his old apartments and I have to admit, I was kinda surprised by how run down most of them were.

...to be continued with our coastal adventures...

Carnival Party

Marcus' mom planned the most fun carnival party I have ever seen for her parents' birthdays and anniversary celebrations.  Grandpa Miller is turning 90 and they are celebrating 65 years of marriage.  Marie is a one of a kind party planner and goes all out.  I didn't take any of these pictures but thought they were so fun I had to post them.

-- this was just the family that came.  there were so many friends, neighbors, old mission companions, and many more that came to support.  you can tell grandma and grandpa are so loved. -- 

-prizes, tickets, cotton candy, snow cones, clowns, popcorn, train rides and tons of games --

-- grandpa got his face painted and grandma got a balloon bouquet --

-- so, so sweet --

-- cute pregnant laura, and my darling nieces and their mom --

--asher loved himself some games --

-- marcus' happy mom & dad enjoy the party --

-- matt & marilee and their five cute kiddos.  steven was so cute carrying around all of his loot! --

-- scott & julie had way too much fun in the bounce house and are pretty much the cutest --

-- at the end of the party sadly it started raining.  everyone quickly moved everything under the trees and hung out under the pavilion.  asher was obsessed with playing in the rain --

--the webb family --