Portland Trip

We took a trip to Portland, Oregon, to visit Ryan's dad and stepmom. We were there for 6 days and had so much fun. 

August 12 - Rushed to the airport. Maya and I were the very last passengers to board. The girls got a kick out of the g-force when the plane took off. When we arrived, Kent picked us up and we went to visit Lalo at her work for a little bit. Then we went home, relaxed, had dinner, and sat down to designate days for the different activities we wanted to do. (in the picture below, Ryan's scruff looks kind of weird, but it's Maya's little wispy hair.)

The girls did pretty well on the plane. Brianna got pretty upset about halfway through because she was SUPER sleepy, but she eventually calmed down and fell asleep once I snapped her into the LILLEbaby. Maya tried to nap but was not successful. She was fine the whole time though.

August 13 - We relaxed in the morning (we let Brianna get her morning nap at the house every day except for the last). The four of us went to lunch at Pure Spice to get dim sum. It was not as good as what we had in San Francisco, but it was still good. Maya loves wonton soup broth, so that's what she ordered and ate. 

After lunch we went to the Oregon Zoo. Our favorites were the bats, crocodile, hippo, and penguins. The girls loved the animals and we all had a great time.

August 14 (5th Anniversary for us!) - After lunch we went to Horsetail Falls to do a hike with Kent. I wore Maya and Kent wore Brianna. Brianna LOVED Grandpa Kent the whole trip, and was thrilled to have him carrying her.

The waterfalls were lovely!

Brianna leaned waaaaaay over to touch the rocks as we went behind the falls.

This was a damaged bridge. I was sure to walk daintily. It was not a short fall beneath me.

After the hike we drove to Multnomah Falls and walked up to the bridge. What a gorgeous creation!

Afterwards, we went home and and got ready for our date! Ryan and I left the girls with Kent and Lalo. We had dinner at Ristorante Roma, a quaint Italian place that was very delicious. For dessert we shared a gelato that was rolled in cocoa powder. I took a bite and it made me cough, which spewed chocolate powder all over! Ryan had a hilarious look on his face and said, "What just happened?" It gave me a pretty bad case of giggles. After dinner we drove around town and ended up at Salt & Straw Ice Cream. We got in line at 10:15 PM and waited for 40 minutes to try ice cream flavors like Lime Cucumber, Cauliflower Garlic, Leek, Blue Cheese and Pear. Rather interesting (the flavors we actually bought were not so obscure)! We did not get any pictures on our date. We were too busy enjoying having a nice time together, I guess.

Day 4 - We went to the Portland Saturday Market. Kent and Lalo took the girls on the train and fed some pigeons so that Ryan and I could have speedy shopping time.

We got home and got ready for our double date! We had sushi for dinner, and Kent thought Ryan and I were crazy for how much we ordered. And then we ate it all, which probably made him think we were even more crazy. After dinner we went to see the Wicked Musical. It was fantastic! I had seen it before, but I was excited to go with Ryan.

Day 5 - Got ready and went to church at 1 PM. Found Brianna like this while we were getting ready. At church, Maya took a long nap on Kent and Brianna was very well behaved. It was glorious. 

After church we took some photos and played croquet.

Day 6 - Got up and headed to Seaside, OR, at 9:30 AM. Both girls slept the entire 2 hours there (thank goodness. Maya was starting to get a little hard to deal with since her schedule was getting messed up pretty much every day). We went to Dooger's for lunch and had amazing clam chowder and fish 'n chips. Then we headed to the beach! We set up our blanket and then waded in the water a little with the girls. The water was pretty cold, so Brianna and I ended up back at the blanket shortly thereafter.

Ryan and Maya came back and Ryan buried Maya in the sand! She looked so cute.

After about 45 minutes we packed back up. The beach was loooooong and we only had tennis shoes (silly), which we didn't want to put back on with sandy feet. But the sand was HOT!!! So we ran, each with a baby and other gear - it was not very easy. I am sure we looked funny. After we got rinsed off we went to get a little ice cream.

We walked around the shops for a few hours and rode on a carousel! It was the first time for both girls. 

We headed back home at 5 PM and rested the remainder of the evening.

Day 7 - Got up, got ready and packed, went to the airport, and flew home! We could see Mt. Hood out of the airplane window. Brianna thought it was pretty cool and shrieked at it as she looked out.

It was a really fun vacation and I am so glad that we got to go. It felt like our first real family trip, since we had fun doing touristy things and not just visiting with family. I am looking forward to our next vacation (whenever and where ever that might be), but it is wonderful to be home!!

Lee Martinez Farm

We went to the farm! My mom, Dad, and Holly joined us. Maya and Brianna loved feeding the goats and sheep and petting the ponies. We had a great time!

The goats and sheep were crazy! Especially the goats, hopping up on the fence to get the snack. And they have pretty freaky eyeballs. I tried not to look too long because they gave me the creeps. Maya kept telling them, "Wait your turn! This one his crying. His tummy is growling!"

Brianna simply tolerated it while we held her hand out so that the sheep could nibble. I'm sure from her perspective it could have been pretty terrifying, but she did well. 

Of course we shared a few giggles. Aunts are so fun!

After our farm adventure we went to the park down the hill and hung out in the shade for a bit. It was so hot Maya didn't even want to go play on the playground. We went to Sonic for dinner and cold drinks of slushed goodness. 

We had a fun day and look forward to our next trip to Fort Collins!

Summer Time

We have been having some fun family time this summer! One day we went to the splash pad close to our house and spent some time there. It was super hot so we only stayed about 40 minutes. The girls loved it. 

That same day after dinner we went to Sweets, a local yummy ice cream shop. Brianna is very independent with her food and won't "let" us cut her food or feed it to her. So she got her own spoon and shared with Daddy!

Maya was excited that they had pink ice cream. 

Of course there has been time at the park!

Maya asked if we could make a cake one day, so we made a chocolate brownie bundt cake. Her favorite part is always licking the spoon!

Brianna and Maya had their well visits. Maya is now 23.5 lbs (5%) and Brianna is 18.25 lbs (25%). They're both very healthy and smart. Brianna also had 4 shots, and those shots gave her a 103* F  fever for 3 days. That was not fun for any of us, but thankfully it passed!

Last weekend Ryan and I were able to have a fun date day while my mom watched the girls. We saw Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, went to lunch at Root Down, and then went to the Denver LDS Temple. It was a great day and we are so grateful to my mom for allowing it to happen!

Glamping

Our friends, the Techeras, decided that they wanted to go camping this summer and invited us to go with them. The weather forecast for the weekends was always a little too iffy for me to feel comfortable going, so we ended up at a cabin that belonged to a friend of our friends. It ended up being a perfect situation. We stayed for 2 nights, and no way would we have done that if we were roughing it 100%. It was great to have a bathroom, beds, a kitchen, and a warm place to sleep at night. There were no campfires allowed so we had to make-do with the wood burning fireplace for s'mores, but we still loved it! Maya was thrilled to get to go "camping", especially with her best friends Mary, Ulises, and Walter!

We arrived kind of late the first night (about 6:30 PM) so we made a quick dinner of hot dogs and bratwursts, put the kids to bed, and played games with our friends. It was so fun to feel like we were having a sleepover!

She loved her first taste of s'mores, but couldn't finish the whole thing. Totally fine with me!

During the one full day we were there we spent some time in the morning coloring and playing while the men made breakfast. After breakfast we went on a hike. I didn't get any pictures on the hike, but the scenery was beautiful and it was a good time.

This is our friends' 1 year old son, Walter.

Later that afternoon while Brianna was napping, Maya and I went for a hike. Or rather, a nature walk. She loved looking at all of the different things and walking up the steep hills. We found a tree that was growing funny out of the mountain and the next morning at breakfast she pointed out that her bacon looked like the "weird tree". I love knowing that her memory works and that she's actually paying attention!

That night we grilled kabobs and corn for dinner, laid the kiddos down for bed, and played games with Mary and Ulises again. 

The next morning/day we hung out at the cabin, just relaxing and getting ready to head back home after lunch.

I remember loving to play on my grandparents' phone when I was little and it was fun to see Maya enjoy the same thing. I just had to make sure to hang it up after she was done "pretending" to push the buttons. She called Wawa, Papa, Nana, Uncle Garrett, and Crystal. In case you are wondering, you were all doing something wonderful like eating cake or pie!

We left Sunday afternoon and got stuck in pretty horrible traffic. And then Brianna threw up. Over and over and over. What should have been a 2 hour drive home ended up being a miserable 4 hours with lots to clean up once we arrived. 

We loved the camping experience and are grateful that the first time with the girls ended up being in a cabin! It would have been really difficult and not nearly as fun in a tent.