Fam-arh-ree

CAUTION... A VERY LONG BLOG POST AHEAD...

I truly do have the greatest family ever! I had the opportunity to drive up to University Place with Tyler, Leslie, and Grandma Pat for the Denning's (it's still kind of weird to say that) Open House. They have been married for a month now! We left around 4:30 pm and arrived around 4:30 am. The drive went pretty fast, minus Tyler and I's little detours east instead of west. Oops. We made it safely and that's all that matters. After sleeping for a few hours on Friday morning, we got up and went on a walk. You guessed it, Chambers Bay Golf Course. It's such a good trail to walk. My legs didn't even feel like jello after... it must be from climbing Old Main Hill every single weekday. Then we showered and got ready. I think after that we went on errands and started getting some things put together for the open house on Saturday.

Oh, by the way, it was either raining, drizzling, or cloudy with a sun break the whole time we were up there. It was way fun still. Saturday morning was a frenzy. We got all the tables, chairs, tents, benches, and food for the open house. We were so busy none of us got ready until 5 (the open house started at 6). It was a mad house but we thrive in organized chaos. Anyway, it was raining really hard up until 6 and stayed "dry" till around 8:30. Our family must be blessed or something. It was cold, but we had a space heater and really fun people. Kelsi and Mary came up for the festivities as well! The food was good (fresh salmon, chicken skewers, Caesar salad, fruit, chocolate cake, and cheesecake with lemonade or water to drink). Pretty darn awesome. And I got to see Ashlee! That was wonderful. After we cleaned up some of the stuff, we changed and watched 17 Again. It's HILARIOUS! I was cracking up the whole time. I really enjoyed it. We were late to church the next morning because it was a DOWN POUR outside and it just took a little more time to get to the car than usual, but it was fine. I miss family wards. There is always noise and you don't have to worry about being too loud. Dad bore his testimony... I have pressure on me now. Thanks Dad :) Oh and thanks to Dad for some of these photos!

After church, we were going to head to the Oregon Coast, but it was pretty miserable weather and I didn't pack for temperatures below 60. My bad. So we ended up going to Portland, which turned out to be just as fun. We stayed at the Embassy Suites in Tigard. I got to sleep on the couch cushions in a sleeping bag on the floor. I slept pretty well oddly enough. But before we went to sleep WAY TOO LATE, we ate at The Cheesecake Factory. YUMMERS! That food is always delicious. On the left is strawberry cheesecake and on the right is red velvet cheesecake. Oh my goodness was it tasty!

BALDERDASH. That's all. Kidding, that game gives your abs a good work out with all the laughing that occurs while playing, especially with Tony. He is so funny. I don't remember the exact phrasing for some of the answers, but let me tell ya, they were hilarious! I can't believe what some people will write, but it makes for a very interesting game. We ate a tasty breakfast the next morning and then started getting ready... the shower broke after three out of seven people showered. Thankfully, we got to go into another unoccupied room to shower. That was an insane morning as well. We went shopping at Washington Square and saw some fascinating people. Then we headed home to clean up the majority of the wedding stuff, although there is still quite a bit up there! Sorry Mom! I got about 2 hours of sleep before we had to get up to catch our flight at 6. Delta, you know better. I like Southwest even more now. Let's just say, this morning was rough and I am quite exhausted. But my weekend was a very busy and fun one! I should have done more homework, but oh well. Live and learn. I will just have to put a lot of work into my studies to catch up. I can do it though. Anyway, if you are to this point of the blog post, you get a gold star! Congratulations!

And here are some photos from the Portland Temple that I took. My favorite is the last one.

I hope you survived reading this post because it was SUPER long!!!