Family Party Time (Northern California and Portland)

Luke was kind enough to let me go and have fun for a few weeks! While he had to work some longer hours on a current project, I headed up to Northern California to spend time with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. It's always so great to get to spend time with my grandparents.  We all really went through withdrawals when Luke and I moved down to Southern California, after getting to spend every day with them.

Four Generations!

A trip back to Stockton also included getting to visit the office I use to work in.  It was so fun to see people again and catch up! It's no secret that my favorite two people to see were my cousin Allie and Dave Dinubilo (a family friend of over 40 years).

Luke and I recently bought my parent's car. My mom very willingly drove the car down to Stockton to bring it to me. It was great to spend time with her in her home town, and we took the opportunity to take a four generation picture while we were all in town!

My mom then drove the remaining 6 hours with my back down to Orange County.  We had a great mini road trip, one of the dozens that we have such fond memories of together. We spent one night at my place and the next day Luke took us to the airport and we flew to Portland!

Spending a week with my parents was one of the best decisions.  It was so nice to have it be just the three of us, and not be there for any particular reason, making it nice and relaxed.

My first day, my dad and I hiked Beacon Rock at the Columbia River Gorge.  Hiking has always been my dad's thing. We talked about everything, and he gave me a lot of business advice on my new company. And the view, gorgeous.  It really is the most beautiful corner of the country, and that's including my beloved Southern California.

Sadly the entire week I was fighting a cold. Even though I was loving the rain, apparently my body wasn't! But it was so nice to have a relaxed enough trip that didn't matter if I was sick. Our time together included Downtown Portland, sushi, Nicolas, lots of Thai food and friends.

After I had already booked my tickets, I learned that I was lucky enough to have overlapped my trip with Bailey Rhoad's homecoming! She just got back from serving in Brazil. It was so specially so see a beautiful woman who I've known since I was six, come home and see just how much she was shining! Chelsea (her twin) was in town too, making me the luckiest girl alive to have two of my best friends from high school actually be in town when I was in town. At one point, when Chelsea's baby, Logan, was napping, it was just me, Chelsea and Bailey.  No boys. Just us.  I can't remember the last time that was, and who knows when it will happen again, but it was special.

Also timed so perfectly was the fact that my cousins Bri and Madi were in town! They are both going to school in the Bay Area, and were home for Spring Break.  We squeezed in an hour together at The Laughing Planet to catch up on EVERYTHING. Sadly, I failed to remember to snap a pic of the rare sighting of the three of us all together.

At the tail end of my trip, my other grandma came down from Canada to visit.  I haven't had a chance to see her since my wedding (and we all know that seeing someone during your own wedding doesn't count). We had a great time going downtown which included the staples of Saturday's Market and Powell's Books. My grandma had never been, so of course we had to go!

All together, it was a great trip, and I cannot wait to return in 3 months for Alex's homecoming!