For Presidents' weekend this year Kyle and I went to Portland so I could meet his family in person. His dad and uncle have a business and needed a new car for it, so we picked up the car from the Salt Lake area and drove it up there and then flew home a few days later.
Kyle came and picked me up after his classes on Friday, with a car full of artwork (one of his uncles is an artist and sent us with art for his brothers). After a quick stop to get Chick-Fil-A for lunch (obviously), we started the journey to Oregon. Despite the 12 hour drive, we had a great time. I only drove for a few hours so Kyle could sleep a little and he drove the rest of the way. We had a great time talking and laughing together. We did listen to Harry Potter a little bit, but mostly just near the end when Kyle started getting really antsy and eager to get home.
We pulled up to his house about 10:30-11:00 at night. I'll admit, I was nervous. I had talked to his parents and met most of his siblings when we were skyping over the holiday breaks and over FaceTime. But I was still nervous about meeting everyone in person. Kyle's two littlest sisters were asleep, but everyone else was awake and excited to see us. We unloaded the car and then chatted a little before heading to bed. The next morning I was introduced Audrey and Adalyn. There was pretty much a mutual love at first sight. We had breakfast and then went and watched Davis' basketball game. There were a couple of kids who were not exactly the most coordinated kids for their age, so it was an adventure.
After the game we packed up the car with lunch and everyone and headed to downtown Portland. We ate lunch on some steps near the river's edge (and watched as Hare Krishna dancers tried to get everyone to dance with them) before we made a circle around the river and walked across some bridges (Kyle would know the actual names, but I don't remember). We spent a little time down on the docks before heading back to the car.
We drove through downtown where they pointed out some famous Portland sites to me. Then we hit up Salt & Straw, an ice cream shop famous for its unique flavor combinations. The most unique one I tried was pear and blue cheese. It was good! But I think the best one was the snickerdoodle one. It was so, so good! We drove up to a beautiful outlook to eat our ice cream and play around with the girlies. Then we headed to one of the Dowdle's favorite places to eat for a romantic family Valentine's dinner: Nonna Emilia's. The Dowdles have this place down. They get the same thing and have a whole system in place for it. The food was super good and the atmosphere was fun. There is an accordion player who played a couple of Disney songs at the girlies request. We also had a good time trying to determine the relationship status of the people around us. I love that game.
The next day was Sunday. We had a great breakfast before going to church. It is always a little weird to go to a ward that is not yours for church, but that also makes it a little more exciting. I got to meet the parents of a couple of Kyle's roommates, which was fun. I really like his roommates, so I was glad to hear they had reported to their parents that they liked me too.
After church Kyle went and played with his sisters on the tramp while I stayed and talked with his parents and helped (only a little) to make dinner. Kyle's dad made nyoki and grilled some steak and chicken to go along with the asparagus and homemade Alfredo sauce. It was delicious, to say the least. A lot of the family came for dinner and dessert to celebrate Adalyn's 4th birthday. It was "Tangled" themed with cute lanterns Kyle's mom made with fake flickering candles in them. Adalyn's cake was a barbie cake with Rapunzel in the middle. She was SOOOOO excited. She really is so darling and sweet.
Once everyone else left, we watched "101 Dalmatians" because Adalyn wanted to watch her new movie. After we also watched "Saving Mr. Banks" since I hadn't seen it (Dowdle's are big Disney fans, if you couldn't tell). I thought it was such a cute movie! I love "Mary Poppins," so I loved seeing more of the story.
We had a lazy morning the next day. I got to do Audrey's hair since she wanted it to be the same as mine. She is so sweet. Then we went shopping to get Kyle a few things and find dresses for the girls for our wedding. After shopping we stopped by Kyle's dad's work and visited some people there before his dad took us to the airport to fly home.
It was a short trip, but it was so much fun. The weather was nice and I really enjoyed getting to know Kyle's family better!
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