Vacation Pics

Recently we took a trip to Utah. We were supposed to be going all the way to Wisconsin, but between me not being able to handle it (20 weeks pregnant + long car rides in a car without A/C in the middle of August = NOT GOOD), and the car not being able to handle it (we were leaking oil something awful), we just stuck around in Utah and visited all our families!! I got to spend tons of time with all my nephews, and I even got to see my niece who lives in Korea but was in town for a couple more days!! (that was really exciting, I hadn't seen her in 3 years!!) It was so nice to get to spend so much time with all my family (though I wish I could've visited some of my friends, too). So, here are some pics... I'm hoping they post in the proper chronological order, but I never seem to know what to expect with blogger, so fingers crossed...

whoops, I posted before I even got the pics on here. LOL

and of course, the pics posted in reverse chronological order initially, so I deleted the 5 I had and started from the end and went through the beginning... enjoy!!!

The I-5 bridge in Portland. It's my favorite of the many bridges there.

Beautiful Oregon countryside!!

Not a flattering picture of me, but here's Mike, me, my niece S, and her dad, my oldest brother Bert. Thanks for the bunny ears, big brother.

My niece holding her cousin J. I just love his big blue eyes!!

My niece and nephew. They've always been good friends in spite of their two year age difference.

Hehe... trying sunglasses on baby J.

This is my oldest brother's son A. He's 3, and quite a handful, but he just melts you with that dimpled smile!!! He looks just like his dad. hehe

This is my sister's middle son, A. He is almost 3, and also a handful. He likes to scrunch up his face in this funny smile when he knows you're taking a picture of him.

This is my oldest nephew (my sister's oldest son), C. He is going to be 5 soon. He is quite a character... he really takes after his mom :)

Baby giraffe at the Hogle Zoo. I meant to put a pic of a rhino in here too but I'm not going to the trouble to put it back up.

I guess he enjoyed his dessert!!

Mike eating his Lunchable. :)

The Salt Lake Temple. I love this place.

Hahaha... I just love this pic.

Okay, here is a really good example of the cute scrunched up smile I was telling you about...

Me and my big sis... best friends forever!!! Again, not a cute one of me... oh well. LOL

I know better than to mess with my grandma's "pet" deer herd. when I saw these two guys out in the yard (I was taking Grover out to do his business... lucky for me he didn't even see them), I hauled bum back inside the house as quick as I could.

My nephew and his second cousin enjoying a huge puddle in the rainstorm.

For some reason I have this thing for old houses and barns. This is somewhere in Northern UT.

Sunflowers EVERYWHERE!!!

This, I believe, speaks for itself.

Okay, this one you may have to click on to see the sign, but it also speaks for itself.

So, this is eastern Oregon. Basically the whole eastern half of the state looks like this. It's pretty, in a brown hilly sort of way, but it gets REALLY old and boring after awhile.

Again, you may have to click to zoom in on this one, but I think this is pretty cool...

Mount Hood.

FINALLY getting back to the green stuff!!!

Can you tell I was excited about it? LOL

Can't remember which dam this was... there were a few of them along the way home.

Bored in construction. hehe.

Okay, so this is significant. This picture was taken as we were leaving downtown Portland and getting closer to our home. But here's the cool thing about this picture... ever heard the Everclear song "I will buy you a new life"? These are the West Hills of Portland, mentioned in the song when he says "I will buy you a new house, way up in the West Hills." These houses are all super huge and expensive, so that's why it's significant in the song.

Okay... sorry, I know that was a LOT of pictures... hope you all enjoyed them!!! Still got to find the pics of our fence...