Beautiful Vancouver

This morning we drove twenty minutes and left behind the USA. When we returned the border guard welcomed us back! Yay! We loved being in Canada, but we also loved coming home. The Vancouver area is lovely. We've noticed that when we've been to Canada we've always admired how clean their cities are. The people seemed very nice as well. I'd have to say that our favorite part of the drive was going to Stanley Park. Simply put: it's gorgeous. When we arrived in Vancouver it was raining pretty good; when the sun broke out it was an answer to my prayers - literally. I'm so grateful that such a simple prayer could be answered so that we could enjoy the beauty that we saw.

Washington!!!

Today was the major part of our road trip. We began in Portland, went to Mt Rainier, then on to Seattle, finally stopping for the night in Bellingham. Rach and I have been marveling at the absolute beauty of this state! It's as if when the USA was created they saved much of the beauty for just this area. Oh, I know there are other beautiful areas in our country, and I love and am grateful for those as well. But to put so much beauty in one area...that rarely happens! Now if it just wasn't SO rainy! ;)

Portland

Amy, Rach and I spent today in Portland, Oregon. We began our trip by doing family initiatories in the Portland temple last night. After sharing that wonderful experience we went to Kell's for an Irish dinner that was fabulous! Then we just hung out at our hotel last night. After breakfast this morning we made some shopping stops: a large bookstore, and Penzey's (a spice shop), then we drove around in the pouring rain looking at the downtown area. We stopped at Elephant's Deli - a fun place to eat, then we went to the rose garden in Washington park. After that we had some time to kill before Brad and the boys joined us at the park for a brief playtime (due to serious rain!) so we looked at homes. After being rained out we went to get dinner at our restaurant of choice, which wasn't serving dinner yet, so we found an Italian restaurant that had great food...and the boys got to watch them make pasta! After dinner we said our goodbyes and their family returned to Eugene, while Rach and I returned to our hotel. On the drive back Rach asked me what the best part of the day was...spending time with them was my favorite thing of all. I'm grateful for our time together, especially in the temple.

Snuggles

Yesterday morning I was greeted by Gavin at 7:30 with, "Good morning, Nana! It's time to get up!" Then, this morning. James shyly came in to snuggle with me, along with his sock monkey and the Cat in the Hat. Later I was sitting on the couch and jack decided it was time for snuggles with Nana, soon Gav joined him. I love snuggles with our grandkids!

New house!

Amy's realtor met us at their new home that they are in the process of purchasing today. The house is perfect for their family! Her realtor was sweet and basically asked if I approved! I guess as the mother of the purchaser she wanted to know if I felt that it suits them...it certainly does! I could see how much the boys will love the roomy-ness and the backyard. Their laundry room is one I'm envious of! I'm grateful they are in a position of being able to afford this home, and I'm happy for them. :)

Dinner and a movie

Brad and Amy are celebrating their ninth anniversary today! Since I was already coming up for my road trip with Rach I thought it'd be nice to babysit for them tonight. To make it fun for the boys we got them happy meals and let them eat picnic style while we watched "Monsters Inc." I'm grateful they enjoyed the evening, that is until Jack went upstairs searching for mommy who was nowhere to be found! Poor baby, you'd think he 'lost' his best friend. Oh wait, he did! Luckily Sissy held him and convinced him to have one of Nana's homemade pumpkin bars. That saved the day...along with snuggles and bedtime.

Warm and fuzzy

I love the feeling that you get when you think of family member's at times. For no apparent reason at all they just pop into your mind and you feel all warm and fuzzy, and a flood of love comes to you for that particular person. I'm grateful for moments like those.