"Vacation all I ever wanted..."

Be forewarned this is a long post

For my birthday this year Brent tried to surprise me with a mini vacation.

*reason*

One of my lovely besties had moved :( to LaGrande, OR shortly after her daughter was born (on Mother's Day May 12). Her husband had taken a job there as a professor (he's a biological anthropologist) at EOU (Eastern Oregon University). Needless to say I miss the holy heck out of that girl. Just being able to gab and hear all about Laurel and how she is loving being an amazing mother. So, I bring it up all the time how we need to go visit Rhi, Trey, Laurel and Mona (doggy).

***

Brent had contacted Rhi to plan a surprise weekend for me.  

But, being me Brent ended up telling me where we were going in fear that I would not leave the house if I was not sure of the destination. (and he's right) I get way too paranoid about not being prepared for things. I am NOT a surprise kind of person. I try to tell him its not that I don't trust him...it really is just my own paranoia.

~Anywho ~

I had a college scholarship foundational thing (from 5-11pm) Friday night and was going to be up way too late, so Brent just stayed in Corvallis and worked Friday night (145 miles away)

Our plan was to leave (early) Saturday morning, 

But...Friday night on his way home to us 

Brent drives over the Santiam pass (snowy, icy, mess of a mountain) 

and he was too tired so he pulled over to sleep. 

Saturday morning came, I had the boys and myself all packed. 

We ate breakfast, played with Cosmo...still no Brent. 

I of course had wanted to leave at 5AM because I was soo excited,

 and usually like to get a REALLY early start to things 

and was getting super paranoid something else happened to Brent,

 but NO he finally showed up...not until after 8AM (eh hem).

As soon as he pulled up we were ready to throw everything in the car and go!

August was being a little bit of a pill. Not wanting Mitch to buckle his car seat, wanting a toy (but only if Mommy handed it to him not his brothers...ugh) great way to start a trip.

*side note*

And in true Central Oregon fashion it had been nice and in the high 40's low 50's the day before, but then snowed all night on Friday. So leaving we knew we were in for a snowy drive!

I couldn't believe how many National Forest we drove through. The Ochocos are right by our house (only a 20 min drive) There was NO ONE on the road either, which is always cool.
Brent and I love traveling together, especially with all our guys (minus Cosmo)

We have the best conversations and sing-a-longs. I expected him to sleep, but he was completely engaged in our time together.

We only had to pull over once to relieve ourselves, but the view was awesome!

 We were kind of surprised how quickly we got there. LaGrande is only (233 miles away from us) We arrived close to 1pm. We tried to check into our hotel room early but they said no. Which was strange, we usually are able to check in...apparently they had several youth basketball teams staying there and were pretty booked up. Instead we went to go get some gas, and upon arriving at the gas station I started to realize I did not have my ID in my back pocket. I am not a purse person, never have been. I carry a wallet. The night before at the Scholarship event I had pulled out only my ID, and so when packing the car to go I thought I had just placed it in my back pocket. I then realized I could be remembering one of the trillion times I put my wallet in my pocket I thought (hoped) my ID was in the car somewhere. Nope! I checked everywhere. I called my mom had her check the house, driveway, garbage..nothing. My ID was gone :(

I immediately got over that because we headed straight to Rhi and Laurel. Rhi wasn't expecting us there that early either, so she had just jumped in the shower. We got there just in time for her to throw some clothes on and come out to meet us! 

Look at these gorgeous girls!!!

Adorable Laurel June, checking out all the crazies...

Mitch trying to see if he was taller?! Looks like he's just about there...crazy

 The kids took my camera and captured some photos.

I took Laurel to try and quiet the baby fever I've been having.

Mona, calmed down after her initial hellos

Just smoochin hello, but it looks funny. Had to add this pic in here.

Mr. T

Brent driving his imaginary car?!

We had decided we were all hungry (since it was lunch time) and after a little bit of indecisiveness on my part, we picked a place and went to go eat. Everything is in walking distance so we bundled up and started our walk. 

It was lightly snowing outside!
We at at Cock and Bull.
Where they apparently slaughter turkeys daily to make fresh turkey sandwiches and stuff...

Laurel is such a good baby!

Laurel fell asleep, it was fun watching them get her into the sling...and keep her sleepin'!

Okay for memories sake I'm putting down what we ate.

The boys had some fried shrimp and mozzarella sticks. I had some vegetable barley soup, and Brent got a pasta dish. Rhi and Trey had an eggplant Parmesan thing. 

After our bellies were stuffed we walked back to the house to visit some more.

 By now it was snowing a little bit heavier...

Once back at Rhi's house we just hung out until we were all getting pretty tired.

 They use the washable diapers
 (that I wish they had when Mitch was a baby)
So much nicer on parents and the environment!
 LOVE...
And don't they look pretty on laundry day?!

Showin' off her skills. That little girl can walk pretty good! She talks so much when she walks too that it was fun to take her around the house just to hear her motor mouth :)

 I just have to put the following pictures in because I just LOVE these guys. 

And I am soo happy for them and their sweet little family. 

This was an excited Laurel with her Daddy getting ready for bath time!

 Brent took the boys back to the hotel and left me there so Rhi and I can have some "hang" time. She usually goes to bed at around 7:30PM these days, but we were so happy to see each other she stayed up until after  10:00PM. Poor thing. Laurel kept her up most of the night too

 (which she has been doing since she hit 9months)

Brent tried to take the boys swimming, but I guess the whole pool was filled with little basketball players...He said the boys didn't mind.

I am so glad I have friends that challenge me to grow.

Rhi brought up so many things that really made me of how lazy I have gotten about my parenting. When your first child is born you have so many ideas of grandeur and wonderful expectations and goals.  She and I spoke of nutrition and sustainability. She recommended some books that peaked my interest. I only wish I had a wider knowledge base to add more to our conversations :).

 I am definitely going to check out one of the books she had. The Honeycomb Kids

The next morning (my actual birthday) we played at the hotel  and ate some wonderful hotel food from their continental breakfast...

 

My sweet boys said after I ate my breakfast I could open my card and present.  (such little parents)

I have to say, I was feeling overwhelmed with emotions of gratefulness from my peoples. 

I mean, here I thought the weekend was my present.

I got to see my girls, got to hang with my guys, AND then I get more...

Whoa. 

 Needless to say I finally finished my breakfast...

As always, Brent got me an awesome singing card!

And my present from my guys

They got me a new phone! (which hadn't arrived yet)

But that was a case they got me...owls

Which was lovely, even though I was content waiting until my current phone died...
I do not buy things for myself often. A phone is no exception. Brent's phone had started acting up, so it made sense for him to get another....mine is working fine. He knew that I really loved the phone I had before my iphone. I was so excited about his phone I guess he just wanted to really spoil me this year.

We then decided to go get some swimming out of the way before Rhi was ready to be "awake" for reals.

We just finished at the pool when Rhi called to tell us that she was awake and wanting to prepare some lunch/dinner for us. We finished getting ready and headed over to her casa.

Rhi and Trey bought us some pizza (chicken artichoke) and the boys a pizza (.5 Hawaiian and .5 pepperoni) and then we just hung out. Trey had made some hummus that we all snacked on. Rhi made me a special birthday cake with peanut butter frosting...YUM!

oops I forgot to put these pictures in of Mitch.

*Mitch, you hated Dad helping with your hair. You felt that brushing your hair was enough and nothing else needed to be done. Your dad just keeps trying and trying to get you interested in playing around with options. On this trip he had some fun playing with your gorgeous hair.*

Okay back to the party
It may be blurry, but I love that picture!

 The Batey's got me some earrings and wool soap. If you were like me and never heard of wool soap it's pretty cool. It is soap wrapped in wool fibers which act as a natural exfoliant when you use it.

After the celeb-rational festivities we went back to the hotel to swim.
Trey stayed to do some grading.

Our last day there was Monday!
I had to wake up early to register for Spring term classes.
The boys took their time :)
We were going to meet for breakfast, but Rhi  had another lousy night of sleeping so I insisted she take the morning nap with Laurel and we could just do a brunch.

Brent often tries to slow me.
To have me appreciate the moment.

I can get pretty caught up in planning what is going to happen next that I can miss the beauty and stillness of moments. This past year I have tried very hard to be still.
I think it is really an amazing thing. I can see why people meditate.
I can just sit in the moment looking around at my children and husband and be so filled. So complete.
I can feel my heart swell inside of me with complete awe.
You never really know how your life will be when you are younger.
You dream and you plan, but only time can tell.
I am soo glad to be a completely different person than I was at 20.
I embrace being 33.
In fact looking at all possible paths my life could have taken, there is no where else I would rather be.
And I know I am still growing as a mother, a wife, and person.

So...where was I?
Brunch yes.

We decided to pack up everything and check out of the hotel before we met up with Rhi.
I had already packed most everything the night before. (it's kind of what I do)
We headed a few blocks over to downtown LaGrande.
We went to Jo and Sugars a cafe type place Rhi had never been.

The brunch was good, but it prompted us to talk about grumpy service. Especially in small town when you have a captive audience, customer service plays a huge role.
Needless to say our server was a little grumpy...
After our lovely brunch we headed to the City Hall so Rhi could pay a bill, but they were closed because it was lunch time...still we got some cool pictures on the steps of City Hall!

 After running a few errands we headed back to Rhi's house to make a plan. However, we ended up not really going anywhere else. I wanted to see the campus and take the kids to the park, but I just didn't get up and start moving on that. Mitch was playing with Mona, Bray was obsessed with Laurel June, and August...well he was being August.
So, we ended up needing to head back home (I had my Biology class/lab that night) before we really did anything Rhi kept suggesting...Next time!

Speaking of Bray and Laurel, he would not let her go. He loved her so much.,

He wanted to take her home. So cute!

We said our goodbyes and hopefully next time Trey and Rhi will com visit us!
When we tried to set out on our way the highway we needed to take I-84 West was CLOSED due to an accident. We tried to find different ways around to the highway. Each "back road" we tried to to drive down ended up being a private road or forestry road. So, we were turning around to head South to Boise and then over until we noticed cars were going on the highway now! So we made our way back to where we needed to be. I should probably mention the reason we wanted to go back this way so bad was because I surmised my ID was probably on the side of the road where I had "tinkled" on our way there.
We identified the spot, I am glad it was such a distinctive place versus just a random turn out, I wasn't expecting to find anything. I had made peace with the fact that I would need to go buy a new ID.

So yes, I found my Driver's license. 

And we were able to drive home happy.

I was a little late to biology, but I made it there in time for lab!