COMING HOME

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Heaven loves families/Road trip!

Sooner or later the relaxing has to end, but the fun doesn't. It was almost time to start the wedding gathering again. Joseph and Eliza stopped by Portland on the way from Idaho.

We deluged Brandon and Mallory's church meeting with Stokers/Ericksons, luckily everyone else was visiting their families someplace else so there was room for us. It was fun to have little kids on our pew again. Also, we discovered that there are some delicious children's snacks available. Little cupcake flavored fish come to mind. Paul used them to lure the baby from the row in front of us to join our party. Not gonna lie, they made my Sunday experience better.

After church we made up for our lack of Paul's dinner rolls on Christmas Eve and enjoyed a traditional Sunday mashed potatoes, roast, gravy and rolls dinner. The rolls were also an asset to our traveling conditions the next day. We just supplemented them with mandarin oranges, Wheat thins, trail mix and sour patch kids that Andrew had salvaged from his apartment after his roommates moved out. Thanks roomies.

We played and rested and packed and got psyched for the last leg of our super holiday.

On Monday morning at 6:02 am Eliza and Joseph joined our car of Andrew, Rebecca, Gabe, Paul and I. Brandon, Mallory and crew brought up the rear an hour or two later. They were probably still reeling from all the company and towels, and food, and laundry and noise and clogged toilets and sleeping bodies that we introduced to their week. Thank you, sweet children, for having us.

As with many of you, the best way to ~~survive~~ er enhance a road trip is with a book on tape. The year we drove from UT to IL we went to 4 stores before we were able to find Harry Potter 7 available. When we arrived at our destination our story had not been resolved. We visited with our friends for a bit and then the kids asked me desperately, "Can we listen to the end of the book?" There they all were sequestered in the back bedroom until Neville came out victorious and all was well in Hogwarts.

Sadly, there is no more Harry Potter, and so I chose "Peter and the Star Catcher." The other choice was "A Wrinkle in Time," but Peter prevailed. It turned out to be a delightful way to spend 9 hours in the car. That and the fact that I-5 travelling south from Portland to Sacramento is beautiful. Okay, the olive orchards in the valley weren't as popular a vista as Mt. Shasta, but it was at least different from what we're used to in GA.

A pretty little rest stop with some pretty little children
"Okay, let's back up, close to the trees." "This is a dog walk."
"Okay, let's move forward, away from the trees."

We pulled into our hotel in Elk Grove and soon were met by the newlyweds, Aaron and Clarissa, and the groom, Jacob, and the new party began.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Heaven loves familes/Oregon day trips

So there we were in Oregon with 5 days to kill. It was time for day trips. Our first day trip was over to Washougal, WA to spend some time with the cute Listons. Megan regaled us with tales of Liston Christmas traditions. Did you know that at the Liston house the elves leave Christmas pajamas for the kids in the yard on Christmas Eve? There might be a shirt on a bush, pants on the lawn, another shirt on the lamp post. It's as if someone threw them out the window. The Liston kids must be a favorite with Santa's Elves. No one ever brings Christmas pajamas to the Stoker yard. And if yard pajamas weren't exciting enough, there have been actual Santa sightings from the Liston's window. Those Listons are very nice indeed that Santa comes to their house early enough that they can see him outside. Ho, ho, ho.

After a bit, Megan, baby Eliza Jane and I snuck off to the Camis Antique Boutique while the Dads and the kids watched Despicable Me II. They were laughing when we got home so they must have been okay without us. We had a delicious pizza and wings dinner, visited a lot and then home to Portland we went.

Megan and Me

For our anniversary date, Paul, Brandon, Mallory and I went downtown for a Portland experience. We started at Powell's Books. Imagine a bookstore that is a block long and 3 floors high. It has new books, used books, rare books, music books, every stinkin' book that you can imagine. For any book loving readers their website is www.powells.com. We were all happy to be there, although we were on different floors. Paul was in sports and art. I was in music and bestsellers. Brandon and Mallory were in children. We all left with a resolve to return. We ate dinner at Tasty and Alders. It was served with sharing in mind. The steak was delicious as were the little fried white beans. I liked the goat cheese dumplings the best. For our Portland dessert, of course we had to go to Voodoo doughnuts. We knew it was going to be a good experience when we got a parking spot right by the door. We didn't even have to wait outside the store very long, (I know, right? Waiting outside in the winter for a doughnut?) and the doughnuts were delicious. If you go, get the McMinnis cream fillled. It was sugar heaven. We ate a lot that night and a lot the next day and I wish I had one right now.

Powell's Bookstore

Tasty and Alder's

Voo Doo Doughnuts

Saturday was the day for the super explore. We drove through some beautiful pacific scenery to the coast. We started with a tour through the Tillamook cheese factory. This is a very popular tourist place. It was so popular that Andrew was confused, "A lot of people are coming here. This is a cheese factory. Why is it so crowded?" What's the problem, Andrew, don't you and your friends drive to tour cheese factories? For one thing, the first thing you smell when you walk in is freshly made waffle cones. We resolved to get ice cream on the way out and then started the tour. We learned many fun cheese making facts. Did you know that cows produce 6-8 gallons of milk per day? And also it takes 2 gallons of milk to make a baby loaf of cheddar cheese. And of all the samples I tasted I like the smoked cheddar the best.

Gabe and Brandon

Paul and Andrew

Can I get a little help here?

Thanks for the boost, Andrew

The nice lady in the factory waved at us. That's why everyone stops here.

I'll never be the same now that I've tasted fresh waffle cones.

Next, we had to take the kids to see the Pacific ocean. We hadn't been since Eliza was a baby. We bundled up to protect ourselves from the harsh winds. As usual, when you think you're going someplace where the kids won't last, they have a blast and don't want to leave. Well, not my big kids, but the 1, 3, and 5 yr. old. We touched the water with our finger, did a little sand art, listened to the percussionists on the beach, (I guess that's normal in OR) and wondered at God's beautiful creations.

Super Dad (I mean that)

Just soakin' up the sun.

I told Brandon I wanted to walk closer to the rocks to get a picture. He responded, "You know that's really far away." I just wanted to try. Paul and I walked and walked until we came to a little river. There's no getting wet in those temps so I snapped my picture. Brandon was right. We weren't much closer.

Andrew's Mona Lisa

Rebecca's caricature

Gabe's Picaso

Heaven loves families/ On to Oregon

In designing our mammoth plan we realized that Christmas would fall between the weddings and we were already in the west so the obvious place to spend Christmas was in Portland, OR with our grandchildren who believe in Santa Clause. December road trips through the mountain west are always beautiful and exciting. We put Rebecca behind the wheel on the drive between ID and OR because she needed experience with a hydroplaning car in a rainstorm on a mountain pass. And if she didn't need it , she got it. I'd say, "Umm Rebecca, you're crossing the line," and "Stay in your lane!" She calmly explained that she wasn't doing it. The car was floating. She actually is a great driver and probably is the reason we stayed safe. Driving into Oregon along the Columbia River was thrilling for me. My dad went to Dental School in Portland and practiced for 5 years in Corvallis. With my spending the first 10 years of my life there, it's actually the place I've lived the longest. I had just not been back to visit until Brandon and Mallory moved there.

We arrived Monday evening and woke up Christmas Eve morning with some Christmas jobs to do. December weddings=Christmas lite. Paul and I headed out to Wal-mart. Brandon and Mallory live conveniently next to a lot of great shopping. We plugged "Wal-mart" into the GPS and were confused when it said, "11.6 miles." We commented that our GPS was acting up again and we'd probably drive past 3 Wal-marts on the way to the one listed. When we got there we found that it was surprisingly manageable crowd-wise in the store, and we were able to get groceries and a few little things quickly. We breezed through the line with everyone who we came in contact with acting cheerful and polite. Weird. Later Mallory explained that Portland (Seattle's little hippie sister) eschewed big business and did not look favorably on Wal-Mart shopping. Who knew? Well, that made for a great Christmas Eve shopping experience for me, so thank you, Portland. I guess.

Christmas Eve dinner

This was my first year being in an adult child's home for Christmas. Well, we were in Aaron's home, but he was a single college student and Paul and I were still in charge of Christmas Eve. It was very rewarding watching Mallory and Brandon establish Christmas traditions with their children. Christmas Eve activities consisted of acting out the nativity with emphasis on Mary and Joseph finding a place to stay. They had to knock on the coat closet door 3 times before they met the inn keeper who would let them stay in the stable. We played a snow game which is similar to "Dumpit to Crumpet" but more exciting because children were playing.

Christmas pajamas

No room in the inn.

Then Brandon had everyone choose a scripture or song about Christ to share. That was really wonderful, but the most powerful moment for me was listening to my child testify of the divinity of Jesus Christ to his children. The windows of eternity opened up in my heart, and I saw the power of God in families who love him.

Christmas Morning came surprisingly late. It was past 8:00 am before the littles came down to find that Santa had come. There was delight and surprise to find that Santa knew that they liked nerds candy and had brought them a big movie-sized box. My children, aged 13, 16, and 19 were not as delighted to find that Santa had brought them Brandon and Mallory's Halloween candy and a mandarin orange that looked suspiciously like the ones in the fruit bowl, Christmas lite, remember? Present opening was very fun. I'm so thankful that Mallory got a nice camera for Christmas because she's been taking some adorable pictures of her children, so Merry Christmas to me.

It's Christmas, It's Christmas!

This year our children drew names and gave homemade gifts.
Gabe got this "Jack Frost" hoodie from Joseph. He wears it all the time.

These were not taken with Mallory's camera, but I love them.

The boys didn't really want a hug, but they would let me sit by them.

Paul and I received the "Frozen" soundtrack but were instructed not to listen to it before seeing the movie. The obvious next step was to go to the movie on Christmas Day. I join with all of the other reviews that I've read: So great! I loved it! See it now! And that was Christmas.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Heaven loves families/Idaho Falls

We arrived in Idaho Falls on Saturday night and the very kind Joneses made Paul's dreams come true by going to the gym to play volleyball. The next morning Jeff made a delicious breakfast. Mary had a little emergency, and she took Kristen to urgent care. Mary's suspicions were confirmed-strep. Kristen was masked and other masks were offered. No one else got strep, but we missed Kristen as she kept her distance.

When it was time for church, for a split second I felt little sorry that I wasn't at home to go to church on the Sunday before Christmas, because I knew they had a special musical program planned, and I love the feeling I have when listening to beautiful sacred music that testifies of Christ. As luck would have it, my sister Mary's congregation also has a lot of musical talent and their Christmas program was powerful. There was a cello, a double quartet, and some of the most lovely arrangements I'd ever heard. It was a good day. Even better, we had family caroling on Sunday evening, with some impromptu talent and not so much talent numbers that just made me feel like families are forever and heaven was smiling down on ours. I just love these people.