~Home For The Holidays in Oregon Part I~

~We were all very excited for our trip home to Oregon to be with family for the holidays. There was a lot of sacrifices made in the way of stopping our European traveling for a few months.. just to save up for this expensive adventure.. but we knew it would be worth it. There were a lot of exciting things that would take place when we got home...Dan & Stephanie's wedding, Jesse's return from his two year mission in Texas.. not to mention spending Christmas & New Years with those you love.

The boys were so excited to finally be on a plane again~

~We had a two hour layover in Amsterdam.. so we decided to use this time for the boys to get their wiggles out on the indoor playground, and then Steve & Cole both had some fun with their aqua massages! Cole was giggling the whole time.. which was creating quite the scene. Nothing like a little pampering and relaxation to make for a great start to the next 10 hour plane ride . The boys did fabulous , we ate lots of food, and we were all able to watch 4 movies..even ones that are still in the theaters! NW Airlines hooked us up (or maybe this is what you should get for $1,000 per ticket)~

~When we arrived to the Portland airport.. we were a little nervous to see if all of our luggage would make it. We had 8 suitcases.. and they did pretty good by only losing 1 - we thought that it would be no big deal.. but with the horrible storm that came in, it actually took us a few days before we finally got it. We stopped off at Red Robin on the way to Oceanside, we have been without good old American food for so long..that everything tasted so good. When we got to the coast.. this is what we saw from my Mom & Dad's deck.. it had snowed and snowed.. inches and inches. This was what came to be known as "The Arctic Blast 2008" - it really made things a little more stressful.. getting around was quite difficult, but we tried to make the most of it~

~We were just excited to be toasty and warm inside.. it was fun to have the Christmas tree up and all of the decorations around... it was definitely beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. We had fun playing cards and catching up~

~Watching the storms come in became one of our favorite activities while we were here. The weather can definitely get intense on the coast. The wind would howl and howl - it was blowing at around 60 mph and the windows would shake all night long~

~That storm brought us a few more inches overnight.. so we decided it was time to go out and enjoy it. The boys & Laura all bundled up and went outside to build a snowman. The boys were loving the adventure.. and we were so glad we had packed winter clothes for this trip~

~Didn't this snowman turn out awesome? We tried to make it as beachy as we could.. how many snowmen do you know that wear beach hats and have black beach rock for their buttons and nose? The boys were all freezing & wet, and were very excited to come back inside for some of Grandma's delicious hot chocolate and world famous chocolate chip cookies~

~This explains a lot of what we did while we were at my parents house on the beach.. eat, eat, eat & eat some more. Because of the weather we were not able to get out a lot.. so we decided to entertain ourselves with food.. ughhh! So we definitely packed on some holiday pounds~

~The weather finally gave us a break and Steve insisted that we go down to the beach. It was freezing at the house, so I had to really be talked into it. The amazing thing was that it was much warmer walking on the beach. We had a great time running around and chasing seagulls, and just taking in the most incredible sunset..

it was just what this freezing, cold soul needed~

~The tide was out, so we were able to climb through this cave to the other side. Cole loved throwing rocks in the ocean, and Steve was loving all of the beautiful photos that he was able to take.. it was crazy to think that everywhere else

in Oregon other than this beach was covered in snow~

~This was the end of our first week in Oregon.. our next week would be filled with many more family members flying in, a wedding, Jesse's arrival from Texas, and lots and lots of snow and ice. This was a great way to start our trip.. very relaxing and a great way to get adjusted to the time difference - my parents always take such good care of us. Thanks to you both~