Portland in September

We had been excited about this trip all year long. Justin's sister got married in Hawaii last year(eloped) so they had a wedding celebration on the Oregon Coast at this wonderful private island. It was nothing short of wonderful! We enjoyed every second! And can't wait to go back that way soon!

Our drive was a long one! We split it up and stayed in Spokane, WA on the way there and back. We got to Portland on day 2 and went to a cool museum, OMSI. We went to dinner that night with Jason and Diana at the Spaghetti Factory. My first time there! The next day we woke up and all met together to get on the bus to go to our Wedding Celebration destination (2 hr drive). We spent a couple days there and then got back on the bus and headed back to Portland. We stayed the night in Portland. The next day we had some car troubles, but still got to go to the Portland Zoo and the Rose Garden! (those pics will be in the next blog) And then we headed back home. It was one of the best trips we have ever had! Thanks Cass and Bill!

Here is Spencer lookin' so big.

Spencer and Zack! They played so cute!

Camp Westwind

Spencer running in the sand

sea enemies and star fish

Justin loved poking at the sea enemies. They were too sticky gooey for me. But still cool!

clam...several hundred!

The beach from our hike! Spencer took a nap for the perfect amount of time.

Our hike was so beautiful. The scenery in Portland is so amazing and different. We loved it!

These are the cute cabins we stayed in!

This arch was so picturesque and right close were the tide pools with all the sea creatures!

Watch where you step because you might step on a jellyfish!

We went to the Bonneville Dam, a fish hatchery. They had salmon and steelhead. The salmon were so much fun to watch all piled up together and then one would get brave and JUMP! It was so cool that we watched them for about 30 mins!

Justin and Spencer in awe!

This was at OMSI! It was such a cool museum! They had activities that could last you all day, but we were there for only an hour or two. Spencer had a blast in the child area. So did Justin!

Spencer got to sport this cool waterproof apron and splash like crazy with the other kids!

This pic was taken on our way to Portland, along the Colombia River Gorge. So beautiful!

We hung out to watch these guys for a while. They were wind surfing! I really want to try that someday! From further away they look like bugs on water. They were getting some speed too! I gotta get me one!

family reunion in august

I got to plan a Coombs family reunion this summer! Everyone except the Claytons got to come. We wish they lived closer! We all met up and went into Yellowstone National Park for the day!

Here is Spencer hanging out in his stroller!

Kristin rode with us in the car and kept Spencer entertained. She is such a great aunt!

All of the Coombs family, except for Kim! If I knew how to use photoshop I would have added her!

Spencer just loves Cade. He usually laughs a whole lot when he is around him!

And here is me and my sissy! Love you Krisin!

Later that night we all went to pizza at WILD WEST! Best pizza!
The next day we went to the IMAX theater and watched the Caves show. It was fantastic. Then we did some shopping around town! We also took the family around town to show them the damage of the wind storm we missed the day before because we were in the park. It was pretty horrible! Then we finished up at our house eating a scrumptious lunch!

It was so great to finally get the family here! We waited almost a whole year before they finally came. It was so much fun and we really loved having them all here! We hope they come back sometime!

Cheetos are delicious!

My birthday was a couple weeks ago and Justin kept asking me what I wanted to do. Well, I really didn't know what I wanted to do, but he wanted to go camping so that's what we did (well mostly). We went to this great little place near our house called Wade Lake and Cliff Lake. Two lakes right next to each other and they were beautiful. We took a hike, drove around, had a camp fire and had tin foil dinners and smores and then drove home to sleep in my bed. It was great!
We saw this little rock chuck peeking at us from his hole on our hike.

Spencer stopped to smell the flowers

Dad helping Spencer walk on this huge log

Justin's shoulders make a good seat. We really need a hiking backpack.

Mom and Spencer

Wade Lake

Our friends in our ward gave Spencer this bike and he LOVES it!

I got this picture a couple weeks ago. This little fox is in our backyard.

Our friends Dan and Emalee came to visit us and we went into Yellowstone! Such a great day! This is Yellowstone Lake!

We got super close to a grizzly bear. He crossed the road right in front of us.

Lower Falls

A scruffily looking wolf. Dan and Justin got really close.

Earlier this spring we went for a drive in the park. This grizzly bear (we have seen 12 this year) was hanging out near the fields and rock before you get to Madison Junction. He was walking pretty fast, so we only got to watch him for a while...or so we thought.

As you can tell it was getting pretty late.

We went into Madison Campground to see if we could find him. But we had just missed him according to other people. So we thought we would just get on with our drive. We turned on Fire Hole Drive and about a 1/4 mile in the grizzly ran right in front of our car. So we took some snap shots. They aren't great because it was so dark, but you get the idea.

He just sat there and watched us as we watched him. But the coolest part for me was when he stood up on the pole and started scratching his back. Too cool!

Here's a huge Buffalo. They are everywhere.

Daddy snuggling Spencer to keep him warm while we waited for Old Faithful.

Little coyote.

So a couple months ago I hear Justin start laughing. We had all just crawled out of bed, so I came to see what was so funny! Well Daddy left his late night snack out and Spencer enjoyed every second. At first he thought he was in trouble and offered a peace offering. But we just let him finish off the bag. He loved it! Great breakfast!

Well, so far we are really enjoying our summer. We are both working hard and Spencer is loving all his buddies and outdoor time at daycare. We have had lots of friends stay with us and we have loved having all of them. And hope to get more family and friends up this way.