Part One of Our Awesome Vacation

So, some of you may have noticed that we were not at our typical hangouts for awhile. Perhaps others of you noticed we have not blogged in awhile. Most likely nobody noticed either of those things.

Anyway.

The fact is, we went up to Oregon to visit Melissa's family, and while it was a long enough time that our house went farel and had to be tamed again, it was one of our most fun trips. Because we were there for almost three weeks, we're going to break what went on into three posts, each of which will be quite the doozy! Brace yourself and here goes:

Day 1 - July 1

We started out this lovely, rainy, (and that is not sarcasm...ok...on Melissa's behalf...she really loves the rain), at the Japanese Garden in Portland. To host our first day in Po-Town we had Natalie and Pablo. Though our first time meeting Pablo, we found out Natalie has married a definite winner and Elliot especially liked him!

As this was one of Elliot's first experiences in the rain, she found it more comfortable under a blanket.

After our gorgeous journey in the garden we ate some tastey Thai food and then hung out with Natalie and Pablo playing games like "Trivial Pursuit" and "Who can we gossip about next?"

Day 2 - July 2

Heading out from Natalie and Pablo's, we went to set up for the pinnacle event of our stay. First Grandy, (yes, Mom, we decided that will be Elliot's name for you if you accept...it is a cross between "Grandma" and "Wendy"...clever, right?), had to do some holding and smooching of her favorite grand-Elliot.

You see, the whole reason we went to Portland, (when we did...we would have gone eventually), was to surprise Grampy for his 50TH birthday! He did not know we were coming. While he was at work we decorated the whole family in black and green, and then somehow things kept going...

...like creating a crepe paper web Grampy had to get through when he got home...and then putting Elliot in a box for him to find.

We hid in the family room as Grampy got through the obstacle course. When he reached the box...

...he found his surprise! (We also jumped out and yelled, "Surprise!" but oddly enough he was pretty occupied with Elliot...you would think she's cuter than us or something!)

After a delicious meal Grampy opened his presents. Old Geezer slippers seemed appopriate and Grampy was a sport about the whole "age" thing. Birthday dessert made for one complete celebration!

Good thing since some were pretty tuckered out, (and in case you're wondering, as spiritual as Matt is, a 45min prayer is a stretch, even for him!).

Day 3 - July 3

We took this day just to relax and be with family. The stake had a Fourth of July celebration in the morning, (where Elliot wore the dress Melissa made...we did not get pictures...we know...so unlike us), and later Natalie helped model some of Elliot's cute smiles!