Weekend Vacation!

Wow! It's been a long time since I last updated my blog. 

A lot has happened... but not a lot at the same time. 

This semester is really starting to wind down and it's been crazy busy with finals, group projects, and 10 page papers. 

I also finally got a job! For the first time in 3 years! yay! I'm a server at Texas Roadhouse.  It's really overwhelming but I'm really excited to not be the poorest child in America starting in a few weeks. 

Most importantly... Today I got back from a weekend trip to visit my sis and niece (and Matt of course) in Oregon!

It was really awesome because my this weekend was scheduled to be my last Daddy/Daughter Day in Kappa Delta. My dad asked me how "hooked I was on going" and at first I was bummed until he said he thought we should drive to Oregon and surprise my sister! I basically thought it was the best idea ever because I miss her (but mostly Lillie) like CRAZY!!!! We wanted it to be a surprise, but because they are so popular we didn't want them to be away for the weekend or something so we told them we were coming before we made the 13 hour drive to Corvallis.

Even though I thought I was maybe going to be sad missing Daddy/Daughter Day I realized that this trip and long drive made me learn more about my dad than all my other daddy/daughter days combined.    He gave me basically his life timeline and told me about what he was like in high school, some really incredible mission stories, and meeting and dating my mom.  He told me stories that sorta hung a bell, but a few stories that I have never heard before! I learned so much about him and am really grateful for the trip. We also got to listen to quite a bit of conference I was able to catch up on that I missed while at the Florence concert.

My little brother Matt came which always makes it a good time because he is one of the biggest freaks I know-- he is so sarcastic it even puts me to shame. On the drive up we made the most ridiculous jokes about runaway truck ramps, our really nice hotel (Shilo Inn...) and even made a few music videos.  I guess you could say we got pretty close to shooting ourselves on the way there.

Once we got there it was amazing! It was raining, of course, but that didn't stop us from having an amazing weekend.  We went to a fun pub on Friday night to eat some food and then watched Hunger Games. On Sunday we woke up and went to church and then drove to the coast to see the sites and have a little family bonding. It was so beautiful and green and mossy.  The ocean was unreal because it was really rainy that day and the waves were huge! We stopped by Seal Rock and Devil Churn to watch the waves and went into a few little shops in Newport. Most importantly, we looked at 2 awesome whale murals!!!!

On the way back we ate at a restaurant called The Blue Whale (thats basically why we made the drive) because they have the best Fish 'N Chips and Clam Chowder in Oregon! That night we watched Walking Dead (still not sure how I feel about this season... just saying) and ate chocolate pie.

It was so great to see them and it the best weekend! I'm sad it went by so fast! Lillie is so huge I cant believe how much she loves whales and Tarzan, and she can even count to ten! She is such a grandpa's girl and hardly gave me the time of day, but when she did she was just so precious.  I cant believe she is 2 in a few weeks! I can't wait to see them all again in tropical paradise AKA Hawaii in less then a month!

but like I alway say... "sometimes you just gotta take a weekend getaway."