A Trip to the West Coast

We took a break from our life and went on a trip to Washington state, Oregon, and part of California. We had such a wonderful time, even though we spent the whole vacation traveling, we made some good memories and had delightful visits with family.

While traveling on the plane, Josh worked his magic, and woooed (sp?) all of the flight attendants, and surrounding people, it was hilarious to watch him!

I think this is his first bus/ shuttle ride from the airport to pick up our rental car.


Josh decided he wanted to take our rental car (that got upgraded from economy to a Jeep compass) for a spin! we said ok...as long as its turned off! J/K this was our Valentine's Day Picnic at the park. (We actually just stayed in the car since it was raining, and then went for a walk once the rain stopped).

While we were there, we visited Mikes brother and sister, and their families. We had such a good time and the cousins loved Josh. I think he liked interaction with people other than his parents too!

We spent the night with family. Our stay was full of fun, good visits, and delicious food. We had Thai food one night and another night, Mike's sister set out some ingredients for a super easy and delicious white bean and chicken chili! Thank you to you all for your patience and hospitality, we love you guys!



Since we spent so much time driving, we bought food and had several picnics in the car, to escape the wind and the rain.

We drove down the coast of Oregon on the way to the Redwood forest in northern California.

When we set this picture up, the water was out, then after I set the timer, the water washed in around us!

Of course we had to stop along the way to take some pictures of the beautiful beaches, lighthouses, and relieve our cramped legs.


Because the tide was just going out, you could see all of the mussels and starfish stuck onto the bottom of the surrounding rocks. They were pretty purple and orange.

What is a visit to the beach without finding treasures!

We finally made it to the redwoods around dark, so we snapped some pictures and kept going.

Josh is discovering spring...too bad it was still winter when we flew back home!

We visited a large scrap metal company in Oregon as we drove through. We spent several hours touring the facility. It was a good visit and we learned lots about what works and what doesn't.

While we were on the west coast, we made stops to three different temples. We went to the Seattle temple...

...the Medford, Oregon temple, and the Portland, Oregon temple.

The breaks were nice. We took turns tag-teaming. One of us would watch Josh in the waiting room while the other one went into the temple.


The Portland temple was beautiful, and probably one of my favorite ones.