Counting Crows...a few Months Late.

Since I was having a hard time posting, I missed out on posting a lot of fun photos from this fall. I just came across this one--Amy, Sterling, and I went to see Counting Crows at this gorgeous winery in the Columbia River Gorge, and it was SOOOOO much fun! The first half of the evening was totally gorgeous--beautiful stars, clear skies, just a little windy. Then the clouds rolled in, the rains came, and it was suddenly a whole different situation, but still really fun. I'm so lucky to live close to my sister and brother-in-law, and even more blessed that we get along really well and love hanging out and doing things together. They are the BEST! :) Thanks for inviting me along, guys!

USA Women's Soccer!

In September, my sister got tickets to see the US Women's National Soccer Team vs. the Canadian National Team in an exhibition game in Portland. Sterling had to work, so she took me, and it was AWESOME!!! Amy knows some of the girls on both teams because they went to the University of Portland around the same time she did. And it was awesome to watch the famous Hope Solo goal-tend right in front of us! The US girls won (of course!), and it was a blast. Thanks for taking me, Meem! :)

The Girls Go Home. :(

Our last day came and went way too soon. We woke up early, packed the car, and headed back to Portland.

We found these at my apartment when we got back :) :

Janna took Val to the airport on her way back to Spokane, and Audri, April and I went out to lunch before I dropped them off at the airport.

Thanks so much for an amazing birthday surprise and a fantastic, amazing, wonderful week with some of my favorite women in the whole world! Love you girls so, so much!

The question is: Where are we going next? :)

Whales, Bonfires, Sunsets, and More Karaoke!

Friday of Girls' Week, in my opinion, was the most fun! We spent the morning snoozing and eating breakfast, enjoying our amazing ocean view. Then we took a walk down to the Marina to go on our own private whale watching tour! It was seriously SO much fun! We went out on one of those rubber Zodiac-style boats and it was amazing! It was just the five of us and the boat captain, and I think everyone would agree it was a highlight of our trip.

We did see a whale or two, but that wasn't the best part. We were out for a little more than an hour, and it was REALLY windy that day, so riding the boat was a bit like riding a rollercoaster. Janna and I sat up front while we headed out to sea, and sitting by her was amazing--she was laughing and laughing and screaming and laughing, having the time of her life. :) It made me laugh just to experience it with her. It was a lot of fun. Because of the wind and the waves, it was hard to see the whales, but we did see the little grey whale's back. We also saw a puffin, which was pretty cool. I think our captain got a kick out of us, and also felt a little bad that we weren't having tons of luck seeing whales, so he offered to let us all drive the boat! I think everyone except Audri took him up on that offer, and it was SO much fun! He kept us out about twenty minutes longer than we paid for--he was enjoying how much fun we were having. :)

I TOLD you it was windy! :)

This was Jan's face the ENTIRE time. :)

After our tour, we headed back to throw together some lunch (our meals were amazing--I love being friends with girls who are such awesome cooks and sharing our talents!) and play a game for a little bit, then we headed out for some shopping. Depoe Bay is the typical little touristy beach town, with lots of souvenir shops and cute little places up and down the main street. We split up a little and found some fun things, then met back up at our house a few hours later.

We changed and packed up a cooler and headed out to find a sandy beach. Just a few minutes down the road, we came upon EXACTLY what we were looking for! We played in the waves, took pictures (SHOCKER.), built a bonfire, roasted fancy hot dogs, made s'mores, and watched the sunset on the beach. It was an amazing way to spend the evening with some of my favorite girls. :)

When we all decided we were freezing, we packed up our stuff, found someone to take over our bonfire so we didn't have to put it out, and headed back to our house. Then we were off for our final adventure of the night--real karaoke at a karaoke bar. Audri has a list of 30 things she wants to do while she's 30, and one of them was to sing karaoke at a karaoke bar. When we were on our walk the night before, we realized that just a few blocks down from our house there was an actual karaoke bar, so we had to knock that one off her list together! It was a blast. Some of these lovely ladies had never even been IN a bar before, so that was fun. :) We sang for a couple hours then headed home and literally fell into bed...but not before chatting for awhile, as usual.

Birthdays, Karaoke, and the Beach!

Birthday Sunset!

Day 3 with the girls was my actual birthday! I still can't believe these girls planned this huge birthday surprise just for me. My friends are the best, best, best! :)

We stuck with five girls so we could all fit in one car, because the rest of the week, we went to the beach!! :)

So in the morning, we slept in a little, then got up and resumed the routine--talking, laughing, being silly...it was great. As people started taking turns showering and getting ready, April decided we needed something to eat the rest of Janna's amazing syrup with, so she started the french toast mission. :) It was delicious! We stayed busy, packing everything up, making menus and a shopping list for the beach, getting food together, cleaning up, and chatting away. The girls gave me the Wii "Glee Karaoke" game for my birthday, so you KNOW the Wii came with us to the beach so we could sing! That's what happens when a bunch of former show choir girls get together. :)

We packed up the car (first mine, then switched to Janna's because it was bigger), and headed out. After a detour that resulted in my sweet puppy coming to the beach with us instead of staying with my sis, a quick stop by the LDS temple so the Mormon girls could see it (since we were in the neighborhood anyway), and a shopping trip, we were on our way!

Two hours later, we arrived at the ADORABLE little beach house April had rented for us. Seriously--soooo cute! We got to work cooking up our awesome dinner of fish tacos (I still have soooooo much tuna to use up from last summer's trip!) and Janna's veggie rice while we all practically ate our weight in watermelon. :) It was awesome!

After dinner we decided a walk was in order, so despite the gray skies, we headed across the street to check out the ocean (did I mention our little beach house was LITERALLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE OCEAN??? Good job, April!). We walked around the adorable little town of Depoe Bay and took a bunch more pictures (of course), then headed back to the house for some Glee Karaoke. :) I mean, really, what's a birthday without a little karaoke with some of your besties, right? ;)

A preview of things to come...

Our cute, cute, cute beach house--we had the whole top floor!

Across the street from our house!

On the phone with my cute parents!

So we sang the night away, polished off the rest of the cake (we brought the cake Amy brought out at the restaurant with us to the beach), and then stayed up waaaaay too late talking, as per usual. :) It was seriously a super wonderful birthday--thanks, girls, for coming out to spend it with me! Love you all so much!

Another Surprise!?! Plus, Fingers and Toes, Fish and Roses, Portland and HP 7.2!

The second day the girls were in town, we started off pretty slow. We made these amazingly delicious puffed pear pancakes with Jan's homemade buttermilk syrup for breakfast (HEAVEN!), then once we had all showered and gotten ready, we decided it was mani/pedi time--but being the budget-conscious girls we are, these were the DIY kind! :) And they turned out awesome!

We headed out for a late lunch, and the girls decided, since their first sushi experience wasn't too scary, they were up for Round #2, with REAL sushi this time (you know, the kind where not everything is cooked). :) We took a little tour of NW 23rd, a fun area of Portland, then tried a bunch of different kinds of sushi. April and Val were brave, but the "raw" part of it psyched them out a little, and they were less enamored with Round #2. Jan and I, on the other hand, thought it was delish! :)

Next stop, the Airport. Airport? Yep, that's what I thought, too. But they told me they had another surprise, so we needed to be at the airport by 4:00. Confused, we headed out there...where Audri was waiting!!!! :) SOOOOOOO exciting! I love this girl so much and haven't seen her in ages!! So with everyone now in town, we headed off to do some "Portland-y" things.

We drove up to the Rose Test Garden, this amazing garden where they test out different breeds of roses, trying to get perfect colors and combos, scents, size, you name it. It's an amazing place when everything is in bloom. We wandered around for a few hours and took LOTS of photos, while we ended up splitting up and just catching up with each other. It was awesome. We seriously had the best time.

After the Rose Garden, it was definitely time for dinner. We drove out to McMenamins (eating at a McMenamins at least once is a must-do when you're in Portland, so we went to Imbrie Hall at the Cornelius Pass Roadhouse). The weather was PERFECT, so we ate outside and chatted and laughed (a theme for the week!) and enjoyed the delicious food...and of course took more pictures. :)

We headed back to my house for a few minutes, then went to the theater to catch the last installment of the Harry Potter movies. It was really fun to see it with the girls! :)

And, as any good day should end on a Girls' Trip, we went back, stayed up waaaaaaay too late, and when everyone was totally exhausted, fell into bed. It was a perfect day. :)