NW trip highlights

i know i know. i should have done this post a long time ago, but we have not stopped going since we got home.
we had a wonderful time up north. it's already on the books for next year- but aaron will go with us, thank goodness.
so here is a rundown of the awesomeness that we had.
- the first day we drove to ashland where we stayed with our wonderful friend Lari. she lives here, but has a home up there too, so it worked out perfectly.
-the boys were AMAZING during the twelve and a half hour drive. i can't stress enough how great they were. and no dvd player either. so proud of them.
-day 2, we drove another 8 hours to North Bend in washington- 45 minutes east of seattle, and stayed with my aunt diane and her family. i really wish we could've stayed longer than the 4 days we were there. we had such a great time. we went and picked blueberries at a farm (10 lbs for $11.80!!!) played card games and walked around the property with my cousins (they have 5 acres) picking and eating wild blueberries, blackberries, salmonberries and huckleberries. the boys loved being in the woods and were very excited to see deer and elk around. gavin thinks that deer are moose for some reason, and that cracked up my uncle scott. we went to the 100 years of north bend festival thingy and the kids had tons of fun at the parade and at the small carnival. although the Seattle SeaFair Pirates scared the hockey-sticks out of the boys with their cannons going off. good times. hopefully we will be able to stay up there longer next year. scott and the boys had so much fun with each other- scott tickled hayden so much one night that h peed all over him. and i love hanging out with ashley and kaitlyn. they are such awesome girls.
-we then went back down to springfield. i am SO SUPER grateful to have been able to stay with my friend Brenley and her family. it was so convienent- down the street from the Jolley's and down the street from Brynne too. i think it was a little overwhelming for her son McCoy having the boys around, but for the most part they got along fine and had some fun. brenley took us to see her new house and we were able to pick blackberries, which i used to make a pie for her later that week. hopefully she hasn't forgotten how to make crust yet. brenley was also super sweet to take some pictures of me and the boys (which i will post later). she is so talented and really captures the personality of whoever she is taking the picture of. when we got back to her house, brynne and emily were there and surprised me with a birthday party. i really miss these girls, and wish we lived closer. we haden't all been together like that for 7 years, so that was awesome. plus it was funny to have all 7 of our kids in the house under 5. we also got to go to saturday market. it's so nice that it hasn't changed one tiny bit. i got to get my favorite phad thai. oh man..... it had been way too long since i had that. and of course i bought some killer berries to bring home to aaron at the farmers market. they actually made it all the way home without me eating all of them! during the time in springfield, i also got to visit with another great friend- Nate. and i got to meet his adorable wife Lindsey. i'm thinking that we could be great friends-- if only we lived closer. i hadn't seen nate in about 8 or 9 years, and it was so wonderful that it was like no time had passed at all. we were the same old friends- just a bit older, and maybe a teeny-tiny bit more mature. the boys totally got along with him- so he is officially "uncle nate" now. i also was able to see a friend from way back, Joy. she looks great, and we had a good, although quick visit, and had some good laughs about things that happened 15 years ago. and the main reason i went up there in the first place was for jenni and michael's wedding. she was gorgeous- think of a princess- and that's what she looked like. everything at the reception looked amazing, and there were many people i hadn't seen in many years. i wish we were able to stay a few days after the wedding so i could see some of those people a little more, but i'll make sure to set some good time apart for them next summer.
-we drove back down to ashland and stayed with Lari again, then made the treck back home. it was so nice to see aaron after 2 weeks apart. i came home to a spotless house and a surprise that i will have to post about later.
it was a great trip. if the weather weren't so horrible the next 8 months, i would go up again. but i'd rather just wait until it's super hot here, and super nice there to go visit.