The Oregon Coast

Midway through our trip in Washington, Steve and I headed off by ourselves to the Oregon coast which is about two hours from where his family lives. It was the most gorgeous drive and so different from Utah- it is definately the greenest place on earth. Here are some of the views we saw on our drive up there.

You can barely see it, but this is the bridge that you cross to leave Washington and go into Oregon.

The Columbia River that is the border of Washington and Oregon.

We stayed in a little town called Astoria- its right on the river and only about 20 minutes from the beach. Our hotel sat right on the marina and you could sit out on our balcony and watch the boats come in and out. After we settled in and took a small rest, we headed for our first stop Seaside Beach. As you can see the day was cloudy and it was cold, like on 60 degrees. I think I was expecting a beach like Mexico- hot and dry and everyone hanging around in thier swim suits. Well, although gorgeous, the Oregon beaches are much different. It was chilly and windy and I was absolutely freezing and seeing as how we live in Utah in 100 degree weather, I brought NO warm clothes! So Steve and I went into town and stopped at a tourist shop and bought me some sweats and a sweatshirt. Here are the pictures from Seaside...

As you can see, cold and cloudy!

Me, freezing, trying to gain warmth from the warm sand.

So we decided not the spend the majority of our time at Seaside because it was way too touristy with too many people. So we headed south to Cannon Beach. By the time we reached Cannon Beach the sun was out and so it was warmer, not warm by any means but warmer. I still got lots of good use out of my new warm clothes. It was so nice just to relax and lay around the beach for a couple of hours. Steve bought a kite and unsucessfully tried to fly it for about an hour. He also was in the water, pretty deep too, but he was definately the only one in it! After the time on the beach we went to dinner at a place called Mo's- the restaurant is world famous for its clam chowder. I hate the stuff but according to Steve it was really good! After dinner, we headed back to Astoria- but not of course after stopping back in Seaside for a visit to the outlet stores there! Here are the pictures from Cannon Beach...

Utah looks nothing like this, beautiful isn't it?

Up & Away to the Northwest

Last week Steve and I flew to the northwest (Washington & Oregon) to visit Steve's family for the first time since our wedding. We left last Friday and returned yesterday. The trip started out bad- first, Steve was late coming home from work and therefore we were really late from leaving for the airport, second, I haven't flown in two years and apparently you aren't allowed to take lotions, gels or liquids in your carry on bag that are bigger than travel size. Well, to say the least I had to throw away at least $50 dollars worth of products that I had just bought! The trip quickly turned around when we realized that the tickets that Steve's dad had got for us were first class! I don't think I will ever be able to fly coach again. We got all the drinks and snacks we wanted, pillows, blankets, tv and movies on our own personal television screens, we got to move to the front of lines and be the first to board and leave the plane! This is definately the way to fly!

Steve in the Vegas airport during our layover.

The first two nights we stayed at Steve's parents, then we went to the Oregon coast to the beach, and the last nights we stayed at Steve's sister and her husbands.

Steve and I with his aunt Carol.

Steve and his older sister Jen.

Me and Ashley, Steve's niece (who I guess is mine too) looking at pictures.

Overall, it was a really fun trip and we were grateful that we were able to spend time with Steve's family.

Quick Update

Not much happening around the Berglund house the past couple of weeks... Both Steve and I have been working alot lately so we haven't had a whole lot of time to do anything fun. Steve's boss just had a baby last week and therefore has put all of the work onto him which consequently means about 14 hour days for him :( I have spent the last several days in my classroom- I am so close to being ready and its definately been fun to hang out and chit chat with my teacher friends. We got our class lists yesterday and great news... I only have 24 kids (so far)! This may not seem like a big deal but compared to having 30 last year, it will be like heaven. It makes me really sad to think that some of my old kids won't be coming back, but I know I will love these ones just as much (hopefully!).

Steve and I are leaving for the northwest on Friday. We will fly into Portland and stay at his parents for two days and then we will go just the two of us to the Oregon coast. I am really excited because I have never been there and I haven't been to the beach in like 4 years! When we come back from the coast we will stay the rest of the time at Steve's sisters house in Vancouver (which is the same city as his parents live in). After flying home, my mom comes into town on Wednesday to stay until Saturday. We can't wait for it all!

Saturday at Seven Peaks

On Saturday Steve and I went to Seven Peaks with our friends Tori and Tim who were in town from Vegas where they are living for the summer. Neither Steve and I had ever been there even though we lived in Utah for like 4 years! But we love water parks and amusements parks so we knew we were in for a fun day. We got there at about noon and spent the day in the pool, the lazy river, and on the slides.

Taking a break to eat lunch! Hamburgers and frieds- yum!

Basically, I am a baby and won't go on any slide that has any really steep drops so there was about 4 slides that I wouldn't go anywhere near. Tori and Tim on the other hand are both much braver than me and had no problem riding them! We were at the park until a little after 5- so if you do the math that is 5 straight hours in the hot hot sun with very little shade. And yes, we both got very burned. Poor Steve looks like a purple tomato and is just miserable, I on the other hand turned more tan than red.

Tim trying to get enough air to do a backflip.

Tori and I getting ready to go home.

After we got home we showered up and got ready to meet them at the movies for Batman The Dark Knight. Since we watched Batman Begins the night before we were prepared to see it. It was amazing! I have never really been into the Batman movies but I really enjoyed it and it was totally worth the 2 1/2 hours! It was a tiring and busy day but really fun!

Cami's Reception

My friend Cami got married on Friday and Steve and I were able to go to the reception that evening. It was at the Skyroom restaurant on BYU campus- I had never been up there before and it was really nice and a nice place to have a reception! Cami and Nate both looked great and we are really excited for them!

We met our friends Tori and Tim there and had a great time. They are living in Vegas for the summer while Tim does his internship there so we don't get to see them very often!! There is never a dull moment with the two of them. Cami's grandpa is Elder L. Tom Perry and so obviously he was at the reception. He was wondering around the room stopping at tables and talking to the guests but sadly he never stopped at our table :( We couldn't figure if we were giving off some bad vibe or what! Steve really wanted the chance to meet and talk to him but after that there was just never a chance where they weren't always tons of people surrounding him!

After the reception we did some searching for Batman Begins (in preparation for the Dark Night on Saturday) and after finding an old friend of Tori and Tim's that had it we went up to there place and watched the movie. We didn't get home until like 1:30 but it was a great night!

Tori and I with the beautiful bride!!


The four of us at the reception.

Fourth of July in Moab

So this past weekend Steve and I made the 3 hour trip down to Moab for a fun little get away. We left our house at about 11 on Friday, which means we made into Moab at about 2 that afternoon. Unfortunately it was fairly cloudy and pretty windy- Steve's temperature gage read 106- it was hot and the wind was that really uncomfortable hot wind! We got settled in our hotel and the headed straight for Arches National Park. By the time we got up there it was about 4 o'clock so we just did some short walks around Balanced Rock, Double Arch, and the Windows Arches (they all only totaled about 2.5 miles). Below are a couple of pictures taken at on of the arches- it was almost sunset in these so there really are people in pictures even if you can see us!

Later than night we went to dinner at a restaurant that we always go to when we go to Moab- Zax- it has the most amazing wood burning pizza and salad buffett ever!! It is seriously amazing! Then we walked up and down the streets of downtown looking in all the shops and watching all of the interesting people! After returning to the hotel we went swimming and hot tubbing at the hotel and retired for the night fairly early.

On Saturday we woke up and went up the park again, this time to hike to the famous Delicate Arch. It was cloudy again but still like 100 degrees which makes it extremely pleasant to hike 3 miles straight up hill! I've hiked this arch 3 times ebore but each time it seems to get longer. The trail was filled with people from all over the world, and it was so fun to listen to all of the different languages- there were really very few Americans. But we met some people that were from Vancouver, WA, which is were Steve is from. Overall, it was a really fun hike... but it completely wore me out! We only have one picture right now becuase the battery died on our digital camera but luckily I had a disposable camera from school, but the pictures aren't developed yet.

After taking a nap and laying out at the pool we went back up the park to hike again (all pictures are on the other camera). After swimming again we went to dinner and then walked around the town again. We rested in our hotel for a while and then walked to Hogi Yogi for some delicious milkshakes.

Our last morning was Sunday morning- we woke up, had breakfast, checked out of our hotel, and headed for our last hike of the trip. This hike wasn't in Arches National Park it was outside of town and the trail was along the river the whole time- it was so neat!! We hiked for about 3 miles and stopped several times to swim in these little inlets of the river that created these 4 foot deap pools. Steve was just like a little kid swimming around in the river, he is so funny to watch.

You can look forward to more pictures when the rest come- but overall it was a great trip!!

Weekend Away

Well, I realized that it has been forever since I have posted anything so I thought I would write about our weekend away.

Since school ended I have been feeling really cooped up! Its not that I have been spending a lot of time at home (just more than usual) because I have been busy with tutoring, working in my classroom, and swimming with my sister, nephew, and niece. Its just so different from my schedule when I'm in school: I come home from school around 6 and then Steve gets home within an hour later. Now- I get home between 2 and 3 and have four or five grueling hours by myself! So I was having a hard day last week having been alone for like 7 hours that day. Steve being the wonderful husband that he is set up a weekend away for us!

Steve knows that I would much rather stay in a nice hotel that a bed or breakfast- so we went and stayed in the downtown Marriott on Saturday night. It was a great little get away. We left on Saturday around noon and headed for Salt Lake. After getting settled in our room we walked to Temple Square just for a quick visit. We then went to our favorite restaurant, Texas Roadhouse, which is only in Salt Lake here in Utah. It was amazing as usual. Then came my favorite part- shopping! We walked from our hotel to the Gateway Mall- it was 101 degrees outside! Shopping was great and I made many great finds! If you have ever seen my closet you would know that in no way do I need more clothes. But unfortunately, clothes are my weak point! I love new clothes! Steve was in an extremely generous mood (which I later found out why) and I must admit, I took advantage. Come to find out he decided to let me buy whatever I wanted so that I would let him buy what he wanted- a ridiculously expensive pair of Jordan basketball shoes. Well, he got his wish and it was like a kid in a candy store!

After an exhausting shopping spree, we walked back to the hotel and rested for a short while. We then went swimming and to the hot tub and then we got to order room service- I never got to do that growing up!

Overall, although we only went to Salt Lake it was a much needed break! By the way- we forgot our camera at home so you will just have to use your imagination and visualizing skills!