Tillamook & Good Friends

One of the days we were in Portland, we took a trip down to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. It's about an hour away from Portland and it was such a beautiful drive!!! I have been on this drive many times, but never when it had snowed the night before. It was like a white winter wonderland! I couldn't stop taking pictures. I mean, we have snow in Salt Lake, right?! Why was I so excited about snow in Oregon? I'll tell you...it's so green (not brown)...it's just so much more beautiful! This day was one of the first day's that the sun decided to shine as well, making it that much more pretty. I can't tell you how happy I was to see the sun. I had forgotten how much I despised the winter rain in Oregon, but I can't tell you how much I love the rain, lol! I love the green and milder temps. Anyway...Tillamook Cheese Factory has the BEST ice cream! It's the real stuff! I had to get the biggest ice cream cone possible. It was so yummy! I had to get squeaky cheese and beef jerky for the road :) Healthy huh?!

We then took a short drive down to Cape Mears. This part of the beach is so beautiful! The rocks are so majestic and beautiful against the blank expanse of the sea. The kids were so excited to see the ocean and the tide was out, so that it revealed a ton of smaller rocks and attached to the rocks were all kinds of oysters and star fish and tons of shells. The kids were ecstatic to see all of it. Hailey was so excited that she sprinted toward us over the rocks with shells to show us and...fell right in the water, face first :( Her Nintendo DSi that she bought with her own money she saved for months and just bought in November...fell into the water. She was so devastated and just typing this I want to cry for her and run out and buy her a new one. It was quite sad, considering how excited she was about all of it. Cute Hailey, got up and brushed herself off, sad for a little bit, but then enjoyed the beach. A lady had seen Hailey fall and brought us a bag of rice to put her DS in it. So nice! After 2 days of letting her DS dry out, it still doesn't work. It was such a fun trip to the beach!

Earlier in our trip we got together with some good friends...Paul and Kristi. Kristi taught me a lot about sewing and also served in the Primary Presidency with me when we lived in Portland. We would also run together most mornings. I miss her :( She is an amazing cook and fixed us an amazing meat lovers lasagna...so yummy! We enjoyed visiting and the kids playing! Good friends are so hard to come by. We are truly blessed count them among our friends! One cute thing was when Paul picked up Ruthie and...She didn't cry! She only lets Dan, Me and my Mom hold her. She screams and cries at everyone else. Pretty cool.