Three Years and loving it!

This year marks our third anniversary and we both can't believe it. Time as flown by and it is strange that the relationship and love that we have just gets deeper and deeper. Okay enough of cheesy :)

This year we decided we would head to the Oregon Coast. We planned to go for our honeymoon but it didn't work out. We decided we better go now because it is probably going to be harder to get there later. We first drove Boise and spent time with Micah's sister and her family. We always love spending time with them and it has been a long time since we have seen them. We had fun swimming, playing games, eating delicious food, shopping, and Micah was able to play some video games. We then flew from Boise to Portland, OR and picked up our rental car for our drive to the Coast. Now we still consider ourselves newlyweds and are learning a lot, and this is where our first lesson came in. We had reserved the car ahead of time and had the cost all planned out. The car rental ended up costing a lot more because the price we were given didn't include the insurance and with our luck we thought it best to have the insurance. Now we know to plan extra next time.

Now just to give some background, Micah's family would come to the coast quite often when they lived in Oregon. Micah has a lot of memories and has been wanting to show me all the different places and things for quite some time. It has been a long time since he has been back and he was pretty excited. We drove to Pacific City and were awe struck by the ocean and just how beautiful it was. We had been enjoying the beach in Texas but the Oregon beach is just beautiful. We then checked into Anchorage Motel (I recommend them), changed to some flip flops and headed to Cape Kiwanda. It was absolutely beautiful. The sun was starting to set so we quickly took some pictures of "Gorilla" Rock. Micah was pointing out everything to me and it was fun to see him so excited. We walked for a while along the beach and soaking up the view. We then settled down to watch the sunset. Sadly there were clouds and we didn't get to see the whole sunset but we still got some fun pictures. It was getting pretty cold for me so we headed back to the motel and cuddled up for an episode of White Collar.

Cape Kiwanda

"Gorilla" Rock

The Sand Dune

Beautiful view

Enjoying the sand and waves

Footprints in the sand

Micah playin

Sunset

The next day was our anniversary. We originally planned spending the day at Cape Kiwanda but it was really foggy. Instead we headed to Lincoln City for some fun shopping. Micah remembers the street pretty well and remembered one of his favorite shops: Beachcombers. We had fun looking through all the tourist shops and antique shops. We stopped at CandyLand and bought candy sticks (a tradition Micah loved), salt water taffy, and even found some Bacon Soda (strange I know). Micah then surprised me by finding some beautiful antique pearls for my anniversary gift. I was so excited because I have wanted Pearls for a while. With us moving and traveling we didn't buy gifts for each other so we decided to by them at the coast. A good way to remember the trip. Micah found a sword store and was having a lot of fun. He already has a sword which he bought in Rockaway, OR when he was younger. He was having fun looking at all of the swords and I bought him a sword for his anniversary gift. It is apparently one of the Robin Hood swords. We also traveled to Mo's Restaurant and looked for agates along the beach there. We actually found a couple which was really fun! By the end I was pretty cold and ready to get into some warm pajamas. We ended the day by Micah making some delicious pasta!

Beachcomber shop

Store where we bought my pearls

Candy sticks. Yum!

Bacon Soda

Gross!

My Turn

Nasty!

Looking for Agates

The next day we spent the whole day at the beach. We first explore the small cave where Micah's parents carved their names in '97. It was still there and still easy to read. Micah carved our names and the year right under his parents name, which was pretty cool. We decided that our names are difficult to carve. We then enjoyed some lunch watching the waves. We built an awesome sandcastle! Micah is a pro at making Sandcastles. We had to work fast before the tide came in but we made it. We then sat back and watched the tide destroy our castle. It lasted a lot longer then we thought. Micah also showed me the small tide pools where he would catch little fish with his brother. We decided to get out the wind and went back to the motel for some food but it wasn't long before we came back. We came back to hike the Sand Dune. Micah's family would climb the dune and gather together at the top to share their testimony and come together as a family. It is a very special spot for him and his family. we started to climb and I made it about a fourth of the way and my legs were tired. It is more difficult to climb than it looks. It took me longer than I thought but we made it to the top. I couldn't have done it without Micah helping me along. What a great analogy for life and the gospel. It is hard to climb to the top and we have to take repentance and improvement step by step but it helps to have family and others around you to help you climb to the top. When you finally reach the top you get to enjoy the beautiful view and you feel so good. From the top you could view the other side of the dune which I had no idea what was over there but it was gorgeous! We had our own family moment at the top and then decided to carve our initials into a tree at the top. Afterwards we ran down the hill and jumped off the ledges.

the small tide pools

It's done

Our castle

Mighty Mite

Made it to the top

Carved our initials

Family moment

Micah is so cute

Micah's parents names

Added our names

The next day we were scheduled to leave but we decided to stop at Cape Kiwanda first because the fog had cleared up a little bit. We climbed over the rocks and back up the dune. Micah was able to point out where he and his brother would climb down, find star fish and where the waves would crash up and splash them. We enjoyed the view and then headed back down to the car. We headed to Portland to catch our plane. Now this is where the story changes. We had planned the night before how long it would take us to get to the airport and fill up the car with gas and then planned extra time for anything that might go wrong. We ended up getting stuck in traffic which took us almost an extra hour to get to Portland. We filled up with gas and got to the ticketing desk when Micah discovered he had left his sword in the elevator. He ran back and found it luckily and we checked in. The lady at security was pretty chatty and it took us a lot longer to get through security then we planned. Plus I was stopped in security because there was supposedly a small "metal" spot that showed up which didn't make any sense, but that is a different story. I didn't want to fight with her so Micah grabed my stuff for me and then we ran down the terminal, my pants falling down because I hadn't put on my belt yet, hoping our plane was still there. We barely missed it. Our plane was still there but they had pulled away the boarding terminal. We were able to catch another flight to Oakland, thanks to an employee who felt bad for us and booked us a seat even though he was suppose to wait. Once we got to Oakland we were able to catch a flight to Boise but we sat on the plane for an hour before taking off because there was a hum in the head set. Micah was pretty frustrated at this point and we both couldn't wait to get home. We got to Boise pretty late and were pretty excited to see our car. We then made the 3 hour drive to Le Grande, OR (Micah's hometown) for the wedding the next day.

Climbing on the rocks

The Sand Dune

Micah at the top

The trip was great but we did learn a lot. Plan for paying extra for insurance on a car rental, learn how to use the four wheel drive before driving the rental car onto the beach, plan a LOT of extra time to travel back, and don't pay for long term parking. We were really lucky to have the opportunity to go and celebrate three amazing years together.