B-Day, Seattle, Portland, & SC

Last week Jack had work meetings in Salem, Oregon.  So after they finished we decided to head up to Olympia for the weekend to stay with Aunt Kris and Uncle Phil.  We had a blast!  It was so fun to hang out with Kris, Phil, Adam, Lauren, Ella, and Anders.  We also made it up to Seattle for a day.  It was blue skies and in the fifties all weekend long-beautiful.  Jack's birthday was a few days ago so we included some pics from his birthday bash.  The rest of the pictures near the end of the blog are just random.

My parents and I got Jack the new Kobe Bryant's.  I think he is literally in love.

This is a view of Mt. Rainier from Aunt Kris and Uncle Phil's house!  It was so pretty!

Jack had to try Seattle clam chowder...I said thanks but no thanks.

We got to see them throw the fish at Pikes Place.

The original Starbucks- not sure why we cared to see it, but it was kind of cool.

Thanks to Lauren we got to go to the Seattle Aquarium!

We made it to the top of the Seattle Space Needle!

A view of downtown and Mt. Rainier from the top of the Space Needle.

We found this really cool water fountain near the Space Needle.

The following picture may be a little too romantic for some so feel free to skip if you'd like :)

We ate at this  great hamburger place called Dick's.  Thanks to Casey and Chelsey for the recommendation!

Pretty view on our drive home from Seattle.

Washington State Capitol building.

Mt. Hood as seen from Portland.

Another shot of the Portland Temple.

This picture made us feel like we were in "Twilight."

Jack opening his acceptance letter to USC!

Fight On!

We found out yesterday that Jack got accepted to USC for graduate school! He is going to get his master's degree in Aging Services Management from the USC Davis School of Gerontology. This will help him a lot in the aging health care industry (check out the link if you want to better understand the program). He will be able to get his degree online so he can still be an administrator here in Oregon while going to school. We have not accepted the offer yet because we are worried about the work load he will have from being a new administrator and a new student, but we think it is a great opportunity. He got accepted to start Fall of this year. We will keep you posted on our decision! I am still trying to make it clear to him that this does not mean he will have a spot on the football team :)

V-DAY

Mel started the day out by making fresh strawberry crepes topped with whipped cream.  Then we headed to the Columbia River Temple for an afternoon session.  For dinner we went to Outback for a bloomin' onion and steak.  We were worried that we would be part of the two hour-long wait, but our pager went off literally five minutes after we put our names in.  Just another wonderful day in Washington.

Our New Place

Sorry for the delay!  We love our new place.  Come see it in person!

Lots of Pictures!

My brother, Tim, is leaving on his mission to Eugene, Oregon February 4th. I came down to California to see him before he leaves and to go to the temple with him. We are so proud of you Tim!

I also got to see my cousin, Evelyn, this week! She is such a cutie!

Jack and I went to Portland this past week. Jack had a business trip there and I got to go with him. It was a lot of fun to see the city. It is beautiful. On Thursday I flew home to California while Jack stayed until Friday. Below is a picture of Mount Hood that I took from the plane.

Downtown Portland

Portland Temple

Downtown

I had to take a picture of Jack. He just looks so handsome! Here is my hardworking man the first day on the job. Thanks for working so hard for our family.

Here is our Uhaul that we unloaded all by ourselves when we arrived in Walla Walla! The couch was by far the worst. I don't know how we got it up the stairs, but we survived and are all moved in.

This was when we were leaving Idaho after we packed the Uhaul. It was so sad leaving our friends! We miss you guys so much! Thanks for all your help moving our stuff! We could not have done it without you.

They were so sad, can't you tell.

Before we took off to Walla Walla we went out to dinner with my family at a resteraunt called Matchbox in Palm Springs.

We get new PJ's every year for Christmas and this year the kids got jammy sacks. It was too funny! I didn't know they made them in those sizes. It reminded Jack of Ralphie from "A Christmas Story."

Carneal family photo. We were all in Agoura for Christmas together. It was so much fun!

Decorating the tree with Mom. She has so many neat ornaments!

He loves his niece! They are too cute!