Six on Saturday- Catching Up

 1. I haven't posted about our trip to the Oregon Zoo yet. We are still talking about it, the kids had the best time. This was before the rain started and my hair went flat, ha. You could definitely tell the locals. They were getting out of their cars in the rain to start their day at the zoo instead of getting into their cars and heading home.

 1.5. We stopped at Multonomah Falls on the way to my cousin's house. We went on the short little hike to the bridge above us and continued up to one more lookout. Owen loved all the Oregon dogs. It seemed like people had about as many dogs as I had kids, haha. Hopefully I'll get back to my whole post.

2. In case you ever need a snack of pretzels, come visit us. Owen is a huge fan and we always have a Costco bag on the ready. We have to keep the pantry shut at all times. If we don't, we find him hauling the bag around for someone to open. Lucky him, plenty of people are willing to grant this cute boy's wish.

 2.5. He's also really cute at Costa Vida. My sis was here on Memorial Day and she took us to lunch. It was delicious and he was fun until he started screaming. Ugh. Will he ever outgrow his screaming phase??

At Kate's baptism

3. This girl. She can be a little spacey at times but she is grounded solid as a rock. This week after school she surprised me yet again with this conversation-

Kat- Mom do you know what YOLO means? (You Only Live Once)
Me- Yes (She wasn't sure I knew what it meant so she explained it to me. She said, it basically means 'live life wild and how you want because you only get one chance)
Kat- I think it's the dumbest thing and I don't like when people say it. You don't 'only live once', you live twice! I would change it to YODO- You Only Die Once.  That's more accurate.
Me- Very perceptive Kat.

She then went on to explain to me how it was more important to focus on us living the first time because it predicts where we will live the second time. What a smart, wise girl at 12 years old. She has taught me so much in the last six months (nine+ years really). I am grateful for her!

4.  Last Saturday we went to Seattle for Kate's baptism. We decided to go over and back in one day which translates into about 8-9 hours in the car with a couple stops along the way. It was pure craziness but the kids were incredibly good going over and back. My mom went with us and she would've chosen to stay the night but I was driving so this time, I won out. It was a long day but completely worth it to be with Kate on her special day.

It was a gorgeous day. We pit stopped at the Seattle temple on the way over. Bluest skies, perfect temps and no rain. It's been a few years at least since we've walked around this temple. I have good memories here, namely the beginning of my family. I'm grateful this is where we began so we can be eternal. It's a beautiful, peaceful place and is such a blessing in my life. I want to visit again when we have more time. I'll  leave out the story of missing the temple exit and using Siri to find a Dairy Queen in Texas to get us back on track. For the record, she recognizes Mormon Temple in Seattle not LDS Temple in Seattle, ha. Siri wins on this one. It takes one wrong turn for me to be lost for quite some time over there. The trees are not good landmarks- they all look the same!

 I love the sculptures on the grounds and so did Owen. He kept hugging this little girl, I think he even kissed her. It's so green and gorgeous because of all that rain. I'm not sure if the good days could out weigh the rainy days for me to enjoy it over there full time.

 

A cousin picture Owen wasn't too happy about.

 These two mischief makers were quite cute together.

Just before we were heading out I questioned my decision to make it home in one day. The kids were playing and the adults were chatting, everyone was having a good time. I have the theory that it's better to leave wanting to stay a longer than to leave wishing you'd left much earlier. That proved true again. I left wanting to hang out and talk with Kyle and Heidi but knew it would be best to have all of Sunday to recover. the little kids fell asleep and the big kids read and watched a movie. We pulled in around midnight and crashed. So grateful we could spend the day with family and for the safety we had the whole day with all of our driving.

 5.We have been loving the evening weather and our fenced yard. The kids had these leis from Hawaiian day at school. They covered Owen in them and he never wanted to take them off. We had our own little backyard luau.

6. I found this picture in my garage a couple days ago (oh the job of cleaning that place out!). It was taken at my HS graduation.....twenty years ago on June 1st. Doesn't this dress scream 1993 with that collar and those buttons? If you could see them, my white heels would be another dead giveaway.