The Oregon Coast

Us in Depoe Bay, OR

The cousins' collection of starfish in a pool of water; those are all mussells under the starfish!

My niece, Sophia, with her finger in an anemone.

Adalin!

Pretty trees on Hwy. 101, just south of Depoe Bay.

Panoramic from a viewpoint, gorgeous.

Whale watching in Depoe Bay was SOOOOO fun! It is known to be the best spot to watch whales on the entire Pacific Coast and we got to do it! It was amazing to see these massive creatures rolling around in the waves. One of my favorite parts of the trip.

This one is blowing water!

Our musseling spot. "Sneaker waves" caught us all by surprise and got me wet up to my knees. The best mussels were in between those 2 hugs rocks, way down in there. We had to pry the mussels off with a screwdriver. All of those black things on the rocks are mussels, which I thought was pretty cool.

Kayaking

The first full day of the 2008 Oregon Franson Reunion we rented kayaks and all took turns throughout the day going up and down a river near the house we stayed at in Seal Rock, OR. I don't have any pictures of Adam and I in the kayaks, but did take some when we sent off the first group. When we actually went, we shoved 4-5 people each (some were kids) in 3-person kayaks! It was fun to ride a little lower to the water and go exploring up the river.

Adam's brother Nate and his daughter, Airiana.

Sophie, the very talented dancer!

The gorgeous Kayla, who is going to BYU next week!, and her little bro, Levi.

The beautiful Leah!

Cousins! Adam's brother Justin is in there too.

Brother in law, Sam, and his daughter, Ingrid.

Tia, Adalin's cousin. The two share a b-day, Tia is one year older.

The guys really thought it was cool to wear my shnazy sunglasses!

Adam's so handsome! That baby on his shoulders is pretty cute too, eh?

Pretty Girls

Adam's best friend growing up, Jeremy Smith, got married while we were in UT so we were able to attend the ceremony and reception. We are so happy for Jeremy and grateful that he found Mrs. Right!
I took these pictures of the girls at the beautiful reception that they held. I think my girls both looked extra beautiful that day!

The Drive

I will dedicate one and only one post to the drive from Michigan to Utah to Oregon to Idaho to Utah to Colorado and back to MI. It wasn't that bad but I am safe to say that we will not be driving over 6,100 miles in 3 weeks again in our lives. The girls are good travelers now to say the least! We were grateful that we had the chance to stop at family members' houses along the way as we made our journey westward for the biannual Franson reunion 2008. We had a great time. Here are some pics from the drive.

We were on some dirt roads and figured, "What the heck, lets let Adalin stand up out of the moonroof!" She loved it!

Adalin's standard sleeping position during the drive.

Cousin Sean who drove with us for at least half our mileage. He thought he was cool wearing my sunglasses!

Raise the roof for roadtrips!

Marta and part of her family drove with us up to OR from UT.

Not so comfy sleeping position... she was so tired from all the activity!

We picked up Adam's cousin Sean off I-80 in WY! We are glad we got to know him better!

Ohhh, the Cutest Thing...

Kodak moment of a lifetime.

Kaileen and Leslie

Of course, when I finally move back to MI, my two best friends move away; one to Boston and one to GA. Shucks. I was SO lucky to see them though before I headed out west, which was lucky. They were both in town for a wedding and I had just moved here! Thank goodness! I was SO happy to be able to hang out with my bestest buddies in the world.

It is funny, our friendship. We may not talk everyday, or even every month, but we are still BFFs. When we get together or talk, nothing has changed between us. We love each other still and still know exactly how to tease and appease one another. It's great, and such a blessing to have them both in my life.

Kaileen (below) is starting grad school in a few weeks and has had a heck of a year. It was her b-day and we wanted to celebrate her accomplishments over the past year and give her our love as she starts school this fall. Her close friends all made a card scrappy-style and Les put them in this frame for her to take home to Southie. Good luck girl! (Notice she is wearing a Fun Run shirt that I sent to her!)

Allen Girls' Weekend

Every year or so the ladies on my Dad's side if the family have a little get-together and reunite for some fun and games. This year we went to the west coast of MI and stayed at my Aunt's house for pedicures, henna, movies, fondue, beading, food and the highlight: the beach. Let me tell you that it doesn't get better than Lake Michigan. I grew up on that lake and will forever call it mine. I love it. The sand is perfectly fine and hot, the waves exhilarating and oh, so fun to play around in. No muck, no seaweed, no crabs. Just perfectly, perfectly wonderful. It was so fun to go with my mom and sisters for the weekend and be able to relax and have fun. Adam was a trooper and stayed home with children and dogs so I could go indulge. Thanks so much babe.

Here is a picture of all the girl cousins that were there at the beach. I feel so grateful that I saw them so much growing up and now have the chance to go to things like this now that we are back in MI.


My mom and sisters, Lauren and Alyse, and I.

The Move Drive

I wrote previously about the drive from MO to MI, namely about the close calls we encountered. Here are just a few pics...

May I tell you that I drove the first couple of hours, then my mom and I switched and we never switched back! She drove the rest of the way and was the biggest trooper ever. Thanks for all your help mom! (She always closes her eyes when the camera flashes!)


Adalin being bored...


Kira finally gives in and sleeps...

The first time Isis and Kitty have ever slept next to each other! Of course they do it when forced, because there wasn't anywhere else to sleep!

Pics from the Move

In a hurry as Adam was about to pull away in the moving truck from Kirksville, we snapped this picture in front of our home there. It was the first house we bought and will always be a special place to our family. We really loved that house and we are so grateful for the chance we had to own it and take care of it.

Goofy picture of Adam that he didn't want me to take in the first place, but, you know, gotta document things like this! He was such a trooper, driving that 26' truck over 600 miles, pulling a car behind, alone. Good job babe!

611 E. McPherson St, Kirksville! See ya at graduation! (The awesome new owners said we could come back to visit our old house when we are back!)

Pattie- My thoughtful, helpful, amazing neighbor who spent 2 days helping us clean. Love you Pattie!

Back and Ready to Roll

The last month has been CRAZY. We moved on the 15th of July, were in our new house for 1 1/2 weeks, then drove to Utah and Oregon and were gone for 3.

6,120 miles and 5 pounds later, we are back in Grand Blanc and ready to finally begin our life (and diets) here.

Before we took off for vacation, we got all but 2 small boxes unpacked and painted 2 bathrooms. Not bad for under 2 weeks, eh? Still, our house was left in minor disarray, with things unorganized and out of place.

It seems that with every move I loose a box too. The move 2 years ago I lost a box with baking goods in it, including my treasured Dominican Republic Real Vanilla Extract that my MIL brought back for me from their mission there. This time it was my small bin with all my bow-making stuff in it. Bummer. All that ribbon, MIA. Hope I find it.

We are being employed by our landlords to paint the trim on the outside of the house here. I took the liberty of choose a little bit different color to make way for more contrast and character. I think it looks great. Will post pics when its finished.

Next interior room to paint: don't know. It's a tie between my room and the girls' bathroom. I am leaning towards my room, since we already finished our bathroom and it would be nice to have the entire mater suite done and over with. Guess my mind is made up!

To follow, I am going to write an obscene amount of posts detailing our vacation this summer. But before that, the posts that I should have done before we left... keep your hats on!