Andy's Birthday

For Andy's Birthday he decided he wanted to pick up some flowers and starts for our garden. We made a trip to the local hardware store and came home with quite a bit of stuff.

Don't let the picture deceive you, the back of the car was full too!

Then we headed out to the coast and spent the rest of the day on the beach.

Going barefoot.

Andy & I.

You + Me = Us

Me & Andy.

Treasure!

We enjoyed our time together on the beach! Listening to the waves roll in is one of our favorite things.

The Flu?

After we took the missionaries out for dinner, I didn't feel very good. The next day and the day after that I felt terrible. I had a fever-- highest fever I've had in probably the last ten years. My body ached, my throat hurt, I was incredibly tired (I was sleeping about 15 hours a day), I was congested and I felt nauseous. I concluded that I had the flu. Monday morning I discover that I didn't have the flu-- I had white spots all over the back of my mouth and throat. White spots only mean one thing my friends, strep throat.

Andy stayed home from work and took me to the doctor. The doctor confirmed what I suspected, I had strep throat. I was prescribed some antibiotics and it was recommended that I take a lot of Ibuprofen and Tylenol.

Toward the end of the week I went into work for a few hours. It's been over a week now and I still don't feel 100%. Strep throat is the worst, I don't wish it upon anyone. 

Dinner With The Elders

We invited the elders to join us for dinner yesterday-- we had previously talked with them about going to Dickie Jo's and that is where we went. We all really enjoyed ourselves, the food was so good! I know I'm obsessed. I guess that's what happens when your favorite food is cheeseburgers and you discover the best burger joint ever! Seriously, it's that good! If you ever find yourself in Eugene, OR you have to treat yourself. The truffle parm fries are to die for! The missionaries agreed too-- they said it beat out Five Guys.

Teaching With The Sister Missionaries

The sister missionaries text me and asked if I would like to help them teach a lesson to one of our less active Young Women. I had never gone with the sisters to teach a lesson before and was super excited to have the opportunity to join them!

We talked about the Plan of Salvation, the 4th Article of Faith, and the sacrament. The sisters shared something that they had recently learned about the sacrament that I had never heard before. They asked if we knew why the sacrament is covered with a white cloth before it is blessed. I had never thought about this before and found myself stumped. They proceeded to share with us that it is symbolic of Christ in the tomb. I thought that was super fascinating.

The overall discussion went very well. I feel that I got to know this particular girl in our ward better and I hope she will continue to come back to church.

Unbroken

I finished reading Unbroken  about a week ago. It is hard to put into words just how moving this book is. Unbroken tells the story of Louis an Olympic athlete who was held as a prisoner of war in Japan during WWII. Life wasn't easy for Louis and at times he wanted to give up, but failure wasn't as option. Through Louis' experiences, we learn just how powerful the human mind is. This book is a definite must read!

Fort Bragg, California

We spent a day in Fort Bragg and had a lot of fun! The weather was great and the beaches were beautiful! We went to two different beaches. The first beach had a nice boardwalk and tide pools for exploring. We showed Tanner little crabs and tried to get him to poke a sea anemone with us, he poked one and it sprayed water at him. I don't think he liked that very much.

Tanner on the boardwalk.

Andy showing Tanner a sea creature.

More exploration.

Andy, Trent, & Tanner.

The next beach we went to was called Glass Beach. Back in the day a dump site was located where the beach now is. Clean up efforts have been made for many years to preserve the tide flats. There is a lot of old rusty metal along the tide pools and things like sea anemones have a hard time surviving and the watery takes on a rusty hue. The old dump site though is where all of the glass comes from that makes the beach beautiful!
We really enjoyed looking at all of the beautiful glass! 

Glass Beach.

Glass!

Tanner and Kirsten.

Trent.

Me, Tanner, & Andy.

We spent the evening playing mini golf with the crew (Trent, Kirsten, Tanner, Andy, & me) and had a blast! We'll just say we had to get some more balls, ours ended up in the water and flying over the fence. Opps!

Kirsten and Tanner.

He knows where the ball is supposed to go.

Trent.

Trent. Andy is cheating in the background.

I wish we had another day or two to spend in Fort Bragg. I guess that means we will have to make a trip down there sometime in the future.

On our drive home we stumbled across Paul Bunyan and Babe the Big Blue Ox. Some reason I seem to recall seeing these guys when I was younger...

Farewell California! You were good to us!

The Redwoods

We spent a few days in Fortuna, California with Trent, Kirsten, and Tanner. Why Fortuna? To see the Redwood Forest of course!

The first few redwoods we saw driving into California were impressive but they were nothing in comparison to the redwoods we were about to see. The Redwood Forest in AMAZING! In fact, it is breathtaking.

Beauty.

Andy.

Me.

Kirsten, Tanner, & Trent.

Tanner, Me, & Kirsten.

Andy & Me.

Andy - he loves climbing things.

Me & Andy.

Me.

Me, Andy & Tanner -- he wanted to be in the picture with us. Love them both!

You can't tell from this picture but we barely fit through this tree.

We found some cute tree houses to play in.

This one was two stories.

Me & Andy.

Love him!

As you stand in the forest it is absolutely silent. The trees are so big and it is so dark that the forest seems void of animal life. When you look up you can't see the tops of the trees, they seem to go on forever (in reality though they are 400 feet tall). And the trees are so big around! It's crazy!

I'm so glad we were able to make the journey to see the redwoods. The redwoods are something everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime.

*After looking at all of these photos, I think it's time we start saving for a better camera. These pictures don't do the redwoods justice.