Sunday, July 31, 2011

Seaside


We decided to drive up the coast a bit to Seaside. This is another picturesque town along the coast. There are quaint shops, arcades, candy shops, restaurants and plenty of ice-cream opportunities. A trip to Seaside is always part of our Oregon Coast experience. Today our first stop was Funland. I remember going to Funland with Erik and Dan early in our marriage to play air hockey (and every year since). I believe I lost miserably. Sadly, today was not a winning day for me either. We played Deal or No Deal. I think my big win was 20 tickets. Ry had better luckI moved to my other favorite game...press a button and the ball bounces into a numbered hole winning the same number of tickets as the number around the hole. My high was 8...but I kept getting ones. Emily played and got 75 like three times in a row.Look at all the tickets spilling out of the machine.

We then moved to my ultimate FAVORITE game at Funland. Fascination. All you do is roll a ball and try to light up five lights in a row before someone else gets it. I could seriously sit and play it all day....I have a slight addiction to Fascination. I did not win. I got close, but I never won. But Ryan did!

I hope when I am retired I live near a Fascination establishment....I will be set! Fascination and Bingo..Today I even got to play a couple blackout rounds. Could life be any better?

I think overall, our family favorite game at Funland is Skeeball.Andrew did really well, and got won many tickets playing this game.

This is where I wish that the blog could become 4D. I wish I could capture the smells of Seaside's main street. It is a mixture of caramel corn, taffy, waffle cones, elephant ears, candy and ocean air all in one. Our favorite place to buy caramel corn is just down the street from Funland. Every year we get a bag to carry and snack on as we walk to The Candyman Shop. What is at The Candyman shop? This is where we get our 75 cent Tillamook ice-cream cones.
As they serve up your cone, they always add a little extra and say, "and a little extra on top because you are special." Yes, they said it five times for us...so I think they might say it to everyone....jury is still out. I better go back and do some more investigation : ). We also spin the wheel for a free salt water taffy.With each spin, they say, "Nice spin!" Afterward, I have to say I leave feeling really good about my spinning skills.

As the name implies, Seaside is by the sea. The main road ends at the beach. We do not spend much time at the Seaside beach. It is so much more crowded...we are spoiled by our Manzanita almost empty beach.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Manzanita

Manzanita is a small beach town along the Oregon coast. It is picture perfect. Each year we come here with Erik's side of the family. This year we are renting a home one block off the coast. It is newly remodeled and seems to have some nice features. It is our first year in the particular home.This is the kitchen and lower living room living area. There are two good sized bedrooms down the hallway, bathrooms and laundry. Upstairs their is another living room (with TV), patio and bedroom. In case anyone was wondering...it is the perfect game night house. You all should have come with us!
Like I said, we are a block away from the coast. Of course we rushed to explore. I love the colors of the beach. I love the sounds of the beach.
I love the sand on the beach. It is so smooth and fine! The wind leaves cool patterns in the sand which are so much fun to walk through.It did not take long for us to find some good sand dunes to jump. It was a great first evening on the beach. We are looking forward to the rest of the family showing up tomorrow!!

Friday, July 29, 2011

Trampoline and Pictures

When we ask our kids "What do you like to do when visiting Oregon/Washington?" "Jump on the Landerholm trampoline with our cousins" is high on the list. After all, it is the world's bounciest trampoline! The children were out there first thing in the morning. Bodies were flying, laughter was heard and games were played. In fact, they invented a new game in which Ryan was deemed, "The Popsicle." They tried to explain it to me....too complicated for my adult brain. But, it looked fun!Look at the height that Andrew was getting. Wow! Now Emily. Very impressive. Have you ever tried to stay grumpy while jumping on a trampoline? It is impossible. Don't even try it.While the kids were rotating between Legos, trampoline and video games, the adults got to sift through some of Glenda's boxes. It was fun to watch and listen as Lauri, Erik and Dan would talk about the different memories and people found within the photos. Among the treasures, they found Glenda's baby book and other pictures from Glenda's childhood, slides from Dan and Glenda's wedding, old pictures from Erik and Lauri's childhood, and pictures of the grandchildren.

Monday, July 25, 2011

BYU Day!

We saved our visit to BYU for our last day in Provo. The campus has changed a bunch, but it was still very familiar. We started at the Talmage Building.This is the building that Erik had all his computer science classes. He showed us his TA office and all the computer labs. Seeing the parking lot and the spot that I spent hours waiting outside for him in the car brought back many memories for me! Yes, I was a nice new wife and would pick him up from work each night.

We then made our way to the BYU bookstore. The kids were excited to pick out Y sweatshirts. This side of the library had not changed. Erik and I walked this path many times while fun college students...yes, I did know where the library was on campus. I actually did study there and I worked there too.

The kids found BYU sweatshirts and hats. They also became true blue cougar fans! We made our way into the much changed and taco salad lacking Wilkinsen Center. These flags are hanging right outside the varsity theater.To continue our tour, Erik remembered the fish tanks in the basement of the Widtsoe building. We took the kiddos to see the fish...along the way we passed the family statue. I took pictures with my roommates holding these same hands back in the day. So I could not pass the chance to make my kiddos do the same thing! Andrew got into the spirit of the picture.He jumped up and said, "Look, now the family has a little boy!"

We saw the fish and made our way to the Eyring Science building. The school still has the pendulum still set up near the front door, along with many other fun science experiments.

The last fun pictures we took were at the Tree of Life. This is another statue that has been on campus since 1975. So yes it was ALREADY on campus when Erik and I started at the Y!

Saturday evening we ended our visit to Provo with a hike up to the Y. The Y was put on the mountain in 1907. The large white Y on the side of the mountain has become the nationally recognized insignia for BYU and the reason why BYU is often called "the Y". It is made of concrete and is 380 feet high and 130 feet wide (116 by 40 m). No other college in the United States has a larger symbol; in fact, the Y is even larger than the "Hollywood Sign" in Los Angeles. (thank you Wikipedia)
The path got pretty steep in some places. But we took lots of breaks and enjoyed the views along the way.We are all glad we made it to the top part of the path when sunset hit.This is the children's first time up to the Y. We were so glad we made it to the top!
Andrew said that next time we are in Provo, he wants to hike the Y every single day! I am hoping this next trip is only a year away, we waited WAY to long to return to Utah and the Y.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Wedding Day!

We got up Friday morning and started getting ready for the big event. Emily got to join Laurie at the Salon in Lehi to get their hair done. The salon did an amazing job on the hair! It was a beautiful braid masterpiece. Emily was so lucky to spend the day with the bride and had a wonderful time! She then got to join Laurie and her friends for the day as they got ready for the wedding. The rest of us got ready in together and excitedly set off for the wedding.The wedding was gorgeous. It was at Wadley Farms in Lindon, Utah in the foothills of these great mountains. It was such a happy and relaxed wedding.All the kids looked so great in their wedding outfits. Of course Nate and Laurie made a beautiful couple. First they had a ceremony. Their bishop perform it. He is such a kind man. They are lucky to be in they ward. I know that my family was excited to be able to see and participate.
Emily's job was to help Fiona get down the aisle. Fiona dropped her flower pedals from her pretty little basket. She even picked them up again as soon as the wedding was over.
What a helpful little girl : ). Andrew was the ring bearer and Ryan was the usher. Each child did an amazing job...and each were proud of how well they did. In fact, Ryan was so proud that he is thinking about becoming a professional usher. He opened the doors, invited people to their seats and escorted mom down to her seat. After the ceremony, we had pictures..This is the only one I got during the picture session...I will post more pictures when they are done. Laurie and Nate were lucky to have Pepper taking the pictures. We grew up with her and she is a very successful bridal photographer in the valley. So we got to visit with her and she took all the pictures.

Then we had a yummy dinner and program. We all got to watch a video of Laurie and Nate...so creative. The we had the toasts...which I got to toast Laurie. I stumbled through it and then got to enjoy the rest of the show. Laurie and Nate sang two songs,Nate played the keyboard/sang and Laurie sang. They are both so musically talented. It is obvious that they enjoy singing together....and the songs were so beautiful. I wish I had pictures. Soon : )

The reception followed right after the dinner.
There was plenty of cake, plenty of fun and a whole lot of friends and family. Many of the people that we have known over the years in Minnesota have made their way to living in Utah. We had a mini Bloomington Ward reunion. It was great to see many of my young women leaders and friends that I have not seen in years.Here is Julie and her hubby. She was one of the first people I met when I moved to MN way back in first grade!The night ended with Laurie throwing the bouquet...and Emily caught it! Emily actually won the jelly bean guessing jar too. She was a big winner at the reception. But, as I think about it our whole family is the big winner today because we got a

new brother-in-law
and a new UNCLE!!