THE SPJUTE FAMILY: October 2022

More Fun with Cousins

We came home from Oregon and only had one night to relax before heading to Morgan the next morning to swim in my Aunt Lori's pool and enjoy a fun family picnic. Now that we are all getting older, we don't see my extended family near as much as we used to. My parents and Grandma had been staying at our house while we were in Oregon, so the girls were so excited to hop in the car with them and head to Morgan for the morning while I stayed to get stuff put away from our trip. Later, after Quincey's nap, I then went to meet everyone in Morgan. We had such a fun time! It's not until you are around each other that you really do realize that Family is what this life is all about.

Having the time of their lives!

Quincey was in high demand - she handled the attention like a champ!

Feeding Uncle Shawn's beautiful horses.

What I would give to have this in my backyard.

Meanwhile ... Greg was out blissfully mountain biking by himself.

I didn't know we would be back in town in time for the Day's of '47 Rodeo, so we missed getting tickets with everyone. My sweet Aunt Lynette learned how sad Sofi was to miss the rodeo, so she gave us her 2 tickets. They were driving back to Cedar late anyway, so we were saving them a super later night. Sofia was so excited and loved every minute of the rodeo!

The next day we met up with cousins again at a Trampoline Park in Cottonwood. The kids had so much fun, and it was nice for me to sit and chat with my sister's. Now that we are older, it really is so nice to just spend time with them. I never get to as often as I would like anymore.

Oh Jess. Never a dull moment 🤣

I kind of wish I had one of these in my basement. I'm honestly surprised that Sofi won :).

The Top 3. Wish we could get together more.

Fun in Oregon - ends Sunday

Greg and I packed everything we could Saturday night so that when we woke up Sunday we could eat a cold breakfast of cereal, change, then get the girls bags packed and shoved in the car. Magically, that is actually pretty much how it went. We were up, loaded, and out of there in record time. We had a 12 hour drive ahead of us, and no one was excited for it.

Strangely enough, the girls traveled great! I'm so glad that Quincey was only 4 months old, so she was still pleasant enough to be in her carseat for extended periods of time. We stopped for the customary bathroom breaks, then continued to speed southwest towards home.

On our way out. Goodbye Oregon!

I spent a lot of time in the backseat with Quincey ... and I was exhausted.

The girls were thrilled to crawl back and forth betweens the seats to get their exercise. Sometimes you do what you have to do to survive long roadtrips in close quarters.

Quincey is pure joy!

Other than gassing up and getting dinner at Costco in Boise, we drove as far and fast as we could. Oregon was so much fun, and we enjoyed our time there, but we were also so happy to be home.

Until next time, Oregon! ☮

Fun in Oregon - Saturday

I convinced Greg to stay one more day and make the big long drive on Sunday. He grudgingly obliged, so we had one more day to spend on the beach. It was a beautiful day!

Our last morning walking the beach.

Again, we took the road less traveled...

I announced that I was going on a hike. Claire really wanted to go with me, so I gave up my "me time" and let her. Sometime (all the time) Claire and I butt heads, but in this one instance I'm glad I let her tag along. Claire in the wild is a magical thing, and I'm glad I got to have the one-on-one time with her.

Picking flowers and modeling.

Climbing in hobbit holes.

And taking her old sweet time.

We saw some fun things off the beaten path.

The trail Greg suggested I take was actually a closed trail due to a landslide. It also said that Mountain Lions were highly present, so be on the lookout. Great. Now I know Greg was really trying to kill us ... but we kept walking a bit anyway and the view was stunning!

As hard as she sometimes is, she really is a thing of wonder.

After we got back, we took one more trip to the Tillamook Factory.

One last Tillamook selfie.

You guessed it! Then on to the beach we went.

Claire was exhausted, so she had a nap.

While Sof helped dig a pit.

And then Claire refused to wake up.

Bestie! I really wish they could play more often.

Our last sunset on the beach.

Where we blew bubbles.

And played with glow sticks.

and enjoyed one more night with our toes in the sand.

The cutest little piggies!

💜💜💜

We let the girls stay up late and enjoy one last fire.

Even Quincey got a glow stick.

What a day, what a trip, what fun memories were made!

Fun in Oregon - Friday

We planned to do a fun hike Friday. It was located South in the Tillamook valley, up behind some random neighborhoods - and it was beautiful! it's amazing how many shades of green Oregon has.

The longer we stayed, the longer she slept in in the mornings.

Good morning Sunshine.

Cute Claire. She loved having hot chocolate every morning.

I brought some watercolor paints, and it was a hit painting the seashells.

I love that this picture shows how fast Claire is really going.

My girlies 💗

We made it to the hiking trail!

There was the coolest fallen tree that went along the trail. It was easily 3'+ wide and was the biggest tree in the area. It was crazy long too! Quince and I took the trail less traveled, and that made all the difference.

Uncle Dan catching crawdads.

The girls were in waterfall heaven!

Showing us their booties. They definitely learned that from their Dad ...

On the way out, I hit a slimy log wrong and slid so fast onto my back that I hardly had time to react. Greg had to use all of his strength (literally) to pull me and Quincey back up, since I tried to stay as stiff as I could to not get any more wet. Luckily only the backpack and my backside got submerged and Quincey stayed nice and dry. It made for a funny thing to laugh about the way back down the trail.

After the hike, you guessed it! We went to the Tillamook Factory for lunch.

Here is Sof having the audacity to look so grown up!

Claire was in hamburger heaven!

After having to jumpstart our car 2 different times, we finally pulled into an Auto Zone where they tested our battery and told us it was shot, and if we decided to wait to replace it, that ultimately it could ruin our alternator as well. So, Greg and I decided to replace the battery. Because after fixing the oil hose and ripping off the front shield plate, what else could possibly go wrong?

We learned the people in Oregon are some of the most genuine, down-to-earth, helpful people. Because of Greg's ICD device, he's not supposed to stand over an engine, so I was trying my best to replace the battery with the limited tools that we had. A man walking out of the Auto Zone saw us and instantly stepped in to help. It turns out that he's a local mechanic and made replacing the batter look so easy! As we were getting back into the van, Greg noticed the tire light was on, so we got out and noticed that our back passenger tire was low; of course it was! So, we flagged down the mechanic man and asked him where the best place was to go. Lucky for us, he pointed kiddy-korner from where we were, and off we went.

This particular tire store was so fun! The mechanic had us pull right into the bay and had us stay in the car while she jacked it up, took off and rolled the tire away. She was speedy! And I'm pretty sure I found my spirit animal. She was so fun to watch! Also, after talking to us about our tire, she compared them to "toilet paper." That made Greg and I feel pretty good about our tire quality ... but it made sense because we have had nothing but problems with the tires since they were put on the car. After paying a whopping $10 for the tire fix, we were on our way back to the beach .... Greg and I sat there and marveled at how much help we had received in such a small amount of time, from complete strangers. People really are good, no matter their background or physical appearance.