in the rear view mirror

the nathan and bethany soelberg family is not too good at the picture thing. we bring our camera, we just don't ever use it. we joke that in this day and age - having the ability to visually document your life in numerous ways - our relationship is somehow less legitimate due to the lack of pictures. we don't really think this ... this joke just illustrates how ridiculous it is that we don't ever bust out our camera during the fun times.

road trip turned international

speaking of the fun times ... we went on a road trip to seattle a few weeks ago for a friend of Nate's wedding. we had all day saturday to do something fun so we tried to plan ahead to fill the day up with fun things. we had heard the week before in general conference about the open house of the Vancouver, British Columbia temple located here:



and it turned out that the open house started the friday before you were headed up! so we packed our bags and made sure to have our passports on hand and planned a lovely day of driving to the temple (super close to the US/CANADA boarder) and over to Vancouver to maybe check out the Olympic venues or attend the aquarium.

Unfortunately we left later than expected and we did not plan for a wait on both sides of the boarder (coming into and leaving Canada). the temple was beautiful and wonderful and the drive wasn't even so bad ... but traffic on they way back into seattle was awful as well and we were scared that we would miss the reception - the whole reason we were in seattle to begin with! we were sooo late in showing up to the reception that we ran into it in jeans and t-shirts (needless to say i was soo embarrassed!) but happy to have caught the happy couple before they left for their honeymoon!

visiting parents and the northern oregon coast

my parents came to visit last weekend so we decided to take a drive up the oregon coast. it really is beautiful country round here and as spring is coming (slowly) to the pacific northwest the trees are a beautiful shade of green and the flowers are blooming. we headed north through junction city (where my mom's parents used to live and we use to visit everyother summer growing up) and then to corvallis (which I think is a really really cute town with great architecture) and then over to the coast. we were able to chat and take in some great views of the coast and some light houses. my mom took some pictures. we did not.

one of my requests on this trip was to go to the Tillamook Cheese Factory ... it was super fun and yummy ... Tillamook cheese and ice cream is sooo good. we kept heading north up to seaside where we spent the night and spent a few hours at the beach watching people fly kites and clam digging. i had never before seen a live clam and its weird little "foot" that it sticks out ... totally freaked me out! the water was super cold but the sky was clear so we were happy. we look forward to going back when the weather is warmer. farther north we drove through astoria and saw some really beautiful buildings. the interesting thing about the oregon coast is that it is still remote and kind of rural. there is something about the small coastal town that intrigues me - like seaside, oregon ... home of seaside high and the seaside gulls ... what is it like to grow up in a tourist spot like that? its not overly touristy ... but it does get a lot more croweded in the summer i am sure. and Tillamook ... that town is adorable! sigh ... i am super facinated by places and situations i have never lived in. while i still really like the city, i do enjoy visiting small towns ... so many fun places to explore!