And to finish up August in photos.

 Meal times are always a complete hoot with these two!

Olivia and I and our friends Pam, Hugo, and baby Liv were able to take a little trip up to Portland to Ikea. Between the pizza, icecream cones, holding hands and great deals we had a blast!

 Michael and I have set personal as well as couple goals to read scriptures daily. Personally and as a couple. It seems like it is something that is done here and there and we forget just how much we need it daily.  My own personal goal is to read personally in the mornings. Inviting the Spirit to be with me first thing in the morning is sure to brighten my day.

 Olivia and I had a lot of fun goofing around during Clara's nap!

 I obviously like taking pictures of my food. But seriously I found this recipe on Pinterest and fell in love. All it is, is french bread toasted in the oven, after which you spread a thick layer of cottage cheese, some sliced tomatoes, salt and pepper, and a handful of fresh basil. And to finish it off lightly drizzle the whole thing with olive oil. Yum!

An example of some of the fun things that go on during the day here!

And Winston may kill me for this but I just had to document.

His snapchats are absolutely hilarious!

Farewell August! You were perfect!

Ryan and Sophia visit Day 4.

We had all planned on doing a Whale Watch tour in Depoe Bay and spending the rest of the day on the beach. Sophia and Ryan were already staying in a little beach condo in Lincoln City so we got up bright and early and made the 1.5 hour drive to see some whales!

The boat was a smaller boat and the ocean was pretty wavy (shocker I know) resulting in some serious motion sickness. I know I am prone to motion sickness so I tried to be prepared and took anti nausea medication which usually works, but for some reason it just did not cut it. Ughhh. Luckily I managed to see a few gray whales at the beginning but spent the rest of the time snuggling Clara unable to even move. Michael and Olivia really enjoyed it until Michael got sick at the very end as well. 

All in all it was a success and we did see quite a few gray whales, however I doubt we'll be back :)

After the tour we decided to drive to Newport and have some lunch. We had heard there was a spot where you could see a lot of sea lions.

Not only did we find it but we were able to eat some fish and chips at a little seafood place right above them!

At first this was a complete blast but after an hour of constant barking it got a little annoying.

We did however get quite a few laughs when they would get a little aggressive and push each other in!

Goodness the more we explore this place we call home the more and more I fall in love.

After lunch we drove back to Lincoln City to spend some time playing at the beach.

It was a beautiful day and we all had a wonderful time.

Here's a short preview of the sounds that took place during lunch.

We had a lovely few days with Ryan and Sophia and are so glad they were able to come visit.

It's always hard to say goodbye but here's to hoping they'll be back!

Ryan and Sophia visit Day 3.

Our day started off with a stop at some food trucks in Portland.

I had the most incredible wrap. 

And we of course were quite excited when we saw a Voodoo Donut truck.

After lunch we went to the Japanese Gardens.

They were beyond beautiful.

Olivia and Clara's favorite part was the small bridge that you could walk on and see all the huge colorful fish.

I loved how green everything was and the miniature waterfalls.

After the gardens we were ready for a treat and I was beyond excited to share with them my love for the Salt & Straw. 

This time I was brave and tried the pear with blue cheese and the cinnamon snicker doodle flavors.

AMAZING!

I can hardly wait to go back.

Gosh I love that place.

The Japanese Gardens

See those little miniature waterfalls in the background...they are stinkin cute!

I love this picture for a lot of reasons but mostly because of Michael's face with the binky in his mouth!

In the gift shop I found a little haiku book and the first one I turned to was this one.

I love it.

The Salt & Straw.

On our walk to get icecream Olivia saw this colorful horse and wanted a picture by it.

She's obsessed with all things horses.

Doing a little sampling!

What a perfect day!

I'm falling more and more in love with where I live.

Ryan and Sophia visit Day 1 & 2.

I know I skipped the wedding and hopefully everything involving that will be posted soon.

It was such a stunning wedding and I can't to share.

After all the wedding festivities it was time for us to go back to Salem and get ready to bust out our third and final year of Law school.

Ryan and Sophia had been wanting to come visit and go to the beach and such so they planned on leaving Saturday morning and we planned on leaving Saturday night so that we could drive through the night.

13 1/2 long hours later we arrived back in Salem and were ready to party.

Although it did pretty much take me one whole day to unpack and get all situated after being gone for so long.

Since it was Sunday we decided to have a picnic at Willamette University so that Ryan and Soph could see where Michael goes to school. 

We all went to bed early since we were so tired and we wanted to have enough energy to party it up the next few days.

The next morning we had buttermilk pancakes with buttermilk syrup and the boys headed out to go golfing. Sophia and I decided to head to the Woodburn outlets and shop. 

We couldn't resist buying a vanilla bean frappuccino with caramel from Starbucks.

Best treat ever!

That night we ate homemade strawberry sorbet and watched Man of Steel.

Clara kept trying to walk off the edge.

                I was bad at taking pictures these days so I only had a few but stay tuned for more.

5 years!

 I can't believe 5 years ago I married my Michael.  It has been such a crazy 5 years, lots of bad times and lots of good times. But what matters most to me is that we are still side by side hand in hand. I love him so much more than I did five years ago and can hardly wait for forever!

I was going through my wedding pictures and found a few that I thought I'd share here.

I just can't believe it's been 5 years!

It was an absolutely perfect day and I'm so glad we have all these pictures to help us remember all the little details.

Happy 5 year anniversary love!

P.s. I am skipping Winston and Jill's wedding posts because I don't have all the pictures so sometime in the next few weeks I'll hopefully be able to post about that!