VACATION!!!

(Disclaimer: This post is very long. What can I say, I take a lot of pictures on vacations if I manage to remember the camera.)

We finally made our trip home to Oregon!!! It was SO much fun! A couple barbeques, lots of swimming, and a huckleberry trip later, we are officially exhausted. 

Grandpa Berry, Aunt Mel, and Katie having watermelon milkshakes at Lloyd and Rachel's.

Oop. They caught me taking pictures...

Mr. Corbin showing us how to play Super Mario.

Grandma touched up my layers. She's my hair magician.

Tuesday night, Grandpa and Grandma took us up on the mountain to find some real Oregon huckleberries!

We found some itty bitty wild strawberries too
 

Grandma found a really good patch right off the road.

I think Levi ate more berries than made it in his bucket...

Grandpa telling us about "Over yonder"

SUCCESS!! We ended up with just over a gallon total. Not bad at all :)

 Then Grandpa took us a little higher on the mountain to a lookout point so we could see the whole valley and have a picnic.

Wednesday we had a barbeque at Hilgard Park with Uncle Rick and Aunt Sharon.

Sharon with Rick's sister, Susie. Levi, Cody, and Rick in the background.

Ali, Avrie, Jaycee, and I worked hard to catch the itty bitty fish in the  shallow, warm water.

Levi fit right in with Dad's side of the family, talking about guns,  hunting, and fishing with  with Cody and Rick, and then helping the little girls catch...

...nasty crawdads!!! Bleeeechhh. No we did NOT eat them.

Miss Avrie was very brave and even held a fish in her cupped hands.

And Miss Jaycee had a lot of fun with the crawdads, and teaching me how to catch the fish in plastic cups.

Eventually we had to say goodbye, so Thursday we started making the long trip home. Rick and Sharon fed us breakfast and gave Levi a tour of their place. Levi really wanted to bring home the Harley they’re selling (I admit, I wanted to buy it too), but he finally decided he was content with all the salsa and jelly they gave us.

On our way home we stopped in Baker City at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center.

It was too hot to walk any of the outdoor trails, but we went through the maze inside and learned a lot. (i.e. It was considered a “good” day if the wagon ruts in the road were less than waist-high. And so many people died that it averaged out to be about one grave every 80 yards along the trail.) Levi and I are both sort of... well, ok, we’re definitely nerds. So we greatly enjoyed the museum. :D

We then stopped in Meridian to see a senior couple, the Kynastons, from Levi’s mission. I love hearing all the fun stories from his two years in Florida.

Drove a couple more hours, and made it to Twin right at dinner time! We love getting to stop and see Aunt Erin and her family. Erin and I can talk shopping for hours. Levi and Jesse can talk hunting for hours. Cracks me up how well Levi fits into our crazy family. :)

The sun was gorgeous as we left Twin Falls. Too bad cameras suck at capturing that beauty through tinted windows....

And the moon was gorgeous too. And massive.

And then finally, 14 hours after we said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa Berry, we pulled into the farm in Arbon. Talk about a long day! We spent our last couple days off recuperating from our traveling. Levi got the flu and my allergies kicked into overdrive, so we were both pretty miserable. But we did manage to find enough energy to go for a ride on the horses.

This was the first time I’ve been on a horse in over SIX years. Three days later and I still can’t sit properly.

Sunday, our friends Dustin and Cami blessed their baby girl in sacrament meeting in Arbon. Afterwards, we partied a little more and had lunch with all their family and most of the people from the branch. Levi was not happy with me for buying two watermelons while in LaGrande. (Something about having to pack them across two states, in an already full car.) BUT that watermelon sure was a hit at the lunch. :)

After sleeping in a camper for 8 days, being on the road for 23 hours total, and being out of cell service for 3 days, it feels fantastic to be home! We laughed as we unpacked and realized how many shoes were in our car…

Add in the 2 pairs we were already wearing, and boy were we prepared!

Thank you, Family, for the great vacation!!!