Washington-ho!!!

In Twin Falls on the way back from our trip. I didn't expect to find something gorgeous like this in Twin Falls haha.

Finally reaching the Columbia Gorge on the way to Washington. Almost home! :)

Kennedy in Washington up at Long Beach.

Halee at Long Beach. It was a great day for the beach, absolutely gorgeous!

On July 7th after I got off work we all set off together for Washington. It was actually a bit of a miracle that we were all making the trip, because for most of that day I had supposed that I would very likely be making the trip alone since Eric had been having some health issues and had looked like he was about ready to die that morning. However, Eric is very stubborn and very persistently insisted that he make the trip as well for the chance to spend time together, spend time with my family and make it for Raime's wedding. So I gave in, but mostly due to the fact that by the time we left, he was looking much better. We had decided to drive through the night, and the only con to that was the difficulty in entertaining myself while the girls were asleep at the same time that Eric was in a drug-induced coma. In the past in such circumstances, making a long drive at night, I would open all the windows, turn the radio way up, put the car on cruise control, and sit up on my seat to put my head through the sunroof to drive. But this just wouldn't work with Eric and the girls sleeping for one simple reason....the car had no sunroof. And so I vaguely recall (and don't recall at all) portions of the trip. But in the end, we all made it safe and sound Thursday morning. Oh thank heaven.

Thursday we spent the day with my family, as Eric met the rest of the clan. Thursday night proved to be Eric's motivation in his dire insistance in making the trip, regardless of his state of health. That was the time he had determined to approach my dad to have "The Talk"....you know, that one talk that all boyfriends that hope to be fiances have to have with their girlfriends' dad haha :) A later post will show the result of that talk. Friday we had a great day at the Long Beach up in Ilwaco, Washington and I think it was the most perfect day I've ever seen along the Washington or Oregon coast. It was great!!!! Friday night we were able to spend some time with Branden and Kehaulani since we spent the night at her house in order to be close to the temple the next morning for Raime's wedding. And what a great wedding that was!! It was a perfectly sunny day out for taking pictures outside the temple, and you best believe there was plenty of that going on! haha. It was so fun to see my best friend so happy and getting married and all the activities associated with that made for a busy day. Sunday was more family time until late late that night we made the decision to start heading home.

Seventeen hours later we made it home safe to Pleasant Grove, UT. Yes, traditionally that trip is a 12 hour drive, but we made things interesting by slowing it down, taking a rest in Twin Falls, ID and doing a little inadvertent detour through Pocatello. But we made the most of it and enjoyed absolutely every mile of the trip!!