Party Weekend

We have been looking forward to the beginning of March for a few weeks now and finally it came! First, Bryce and I celebrated 1,000 days of Marriage on Friday, March 5th. We also worked half days and flew out to Utah on Friday. We arrived in Utah around 6PM and met up with my friend, Julia, and her fiance, Matt, at Oh Mai in Salt Lake. It was a great meal and even better company!

After dinner we drove down to Provo to stay with Bryce's brother and sister-in-law, Greg and Abby, but first made a quick stop to picked up some BYU chocolate milk at the Creamery. We then had fun seeing Greg and Abby's apartment and catching up. We went to bed pretty late, but we slept in a little the next morning. Saturday, I had Shelley's baby shower at 11AM so got ready and then headed out. It was so fun to be there and I loved seeing Shelley with her growing belly. Plus, we had quite the Cook clan there with my mom, Celeste, Miriam, Grams, Aunt Melanie, cousin Melanie, and Stephanie. 

I also got to meet Nora and baby Ryn too! It was a fun shower with such cute twin outfits and fun games with baby pictures and trivia about Landon and Shelley.

After the shower, Bryce picked me up and we spent the afternoon with Greg and Abby and finished our visit with Waffle Luv. It was perfect. 

After we went up to Salt Lake to meet my family for dinner. I finally got to see my nephews and of course they were the cutest things. We played a few games at Deseret Book while waiting for Oma and Celeste to finish some shopping. Then we got dinner at Cafe Rio, which is always a good stop when in Utah. And look at this precious face. Mason is such a talker and ham!

After we went to Stephanie and Joey's place to see their new house. They had worked hard to make the place their own and I loved just sitting around talking with everyone. Even Shelley came up!

I also got some more time in with Ryn. After we went to Celeste and Dave's where we said goodbye to Spencer, Miriam, and the boys. Then we went to bed pretty early after such a busy day. Bryce and I got up early and headed to the airport and were back in Portland before 10AM Sunday morning.

We got home and got ready and went to church. We then came home and took a nap and got things picked up for Heather and Rich's arrival. They got to our place at 5:30PM and immediately the volume in the house when up! Party! We had a great time telling stories and catching up. Then we ate dinner from Nong's Khao Man Gai, a food truck downtown that is a Portland favorite. They only serve one dish - chicken and rice - but it's amazing with the ginger sauce. We then ate ice cream from Salt & Straw.

After dinner we went downtown to give Heather and Rich a mini-tour of Portland. We started at their hotel that was right downtown and went to Pioneer Square, the water front, Mill's End State Park (the smallest park in the world).

Then we drove by Powell's bookstore, Voodoo Doughnuts, the Portland sign, and 23rd. Bryce was excited to share all his knowledge about Portland with our visitors and we almost had them to convinced to stay longer with all the food places to try. Monday, I got up early and went downtown with Bryce. Bryce had work, but I took the morning off so I met up with Rich and Heather. We walked around downtown and unfortunately, the brunch places I wanted to take them to were closed on Mondays so we went to Pine State Biscuits. Luckily, still good.

We then headed out to Nike. We went to the employee store first and I helped explain all the innovation in the product. Heather was kind enough to act entertain, but I did realize I have learned a lot about the product since starting my job 6 months ago. After I took them on a tour of campus. Rich especially enjoyed the gyms and of course knew who all the athletes that the buildings are named after. We finally said our goodbyes at 1PM. Even though it was a short visit, it was so much fun and Portland gave them some great weather! I think we have them convinced to come back!

Also, Heather was the cuties and gave me the cutest birthday package - a turning 30 survival kit!

It was such a good weekend with family! Now to survive the week ahead!