portland.

{pic by me in gramma ilene's backyard. damascus, oregon}.

it seems like i've been traveling somewhere every weekend since july! this is the first quiet saturday morning at home that i've spent in a long time. ahhhh.

in july, i traveled solo to our family reunion barbeque in mollala, oregon! jack stayed behind while he was studying during the 

worst month ever. 

poor thing. but...

i was sooo excited to see my family, so i couldn't resist escaping the torture for a few days!

i flew into portland and stayed the weekend with gramma ilene & grampa roy (my dad's parents).

 the first day, we played in gramma's yard, cooked, talked, ate a ton of food, and there may or may not have been a little vino drinking. heh heh. 

these two have the greenest thumbs in all the land. almost every meal we had came mostly from their garden!

gramma drying her basil.

 garden starts.

 hummingbird house & hydrangeas.

 are these even real? 

 my heart will always be in the pacific northwest.

 i mean, i sort of want to eat these.

...and this.

hehehe i painted this for gramma! makes a cute outdoor flower vase.

ok, so the official festivities began the next day...dad & di drove down from washington and we all headed over to renee & bryan's farm in molalla, oregon. renee is my dad's beautiful cousin!

here is a fantastic photo dump of our fun visit to the farm:

happiest sunflower ever. 

 men in the barn. 'merica.

 beans!

 chickens. the mama hatched a few eggs that morning!

 i looove this wheel.

  

 am i dead? is this heaven? do i have to ever leave?

 ok. cutest dad ever.

 renee leading us on our hike!

 my twin cousins, jenna & lexi.

 i looooved these cows!

 renee took us to her neighbor's house to check out her alpacas!

 every alpaca has a name and they are her babies.

 newborn.

 they are very cagey towards humans, but very close to each other.

 big poppa.

this one turned out to be one of my favorites. 

 renee got the kids a pinata! my cousin britton is trying to crack it open.

 bryan working his pinata skills behind the tree!

finally!

my daddy & grampa roy. heart.

grants pass.

 {picture of jack at the caveman bridge on the rogue river in grants pass, or}

my mom's mom meredith {i call her grammenner because grandma meredith was a mouthful with a childhood lisp} lives on the river in oregon with her lovely husband, roy. jack and i drove up to visit them last week! 

h i g h l i g h t s 

of our trip include:

 roy & grammenner took us on an amazing river boat excursion with the destination being an all you can eat champagne brunch in a beautiful lodge. it was seriously beyond-words-fabulous. we saw hawks, eagles, deer, osprey, heron, and gorgeous river homes.

the lodge.

us on the boat!

 waterfall at the lodge.

we were soaked!!

 grammenner's kitty, gracie. she bit jack. but she sure is pretty!

 

view of grammenner's house from the riverbed.

 contemplating how to cross.

  

 washing off river feet. 

 my favorite wall in grammenner's front yard.

 i fell in love this super darling five-fingered-fern. if i could manage to keep anything alive but a cactus & a palm tree, i'd adopt one.

i read my book with the sound of the rushing river in the background. heaven.

{highlight not pictured: i did my makeup every morning in the upstairs vanity seat with a window looking out on the river. i thought i had died and gone to heaven. to put things in perspective, i usually do my makeup on the bus or under florescent lighting to the sound of buses...ugh, i am SO over the bay area.}

 we had so much fun during a sudden torrential downpour lightening storm while we were there. 

a transformer blew at 4:30pm & the power went out. our apple pie was 5 minutes from being done in the oven. the power company couldn't fix the transformer until the middle of the night, so we just played cards and ate snacks by candlelight until bedtime. roy barbecued steaks and we still ate fabulously {salad, bread, and corn on the cob made on the gas stove}. it was a the best thing that could have happened that night. there is something about the power being out that brings everyone together in the best way. we totally had to batten down the hatches.

royful keeping score to our game!

there is nothing like a weekend at grammenner's house, and we can't wait to go back.

 //...//

...annnnd a picture of sushi just because i lurrrrve her. heh heh.