... that we love tradition?

And we love the Fourth of July!

We started out the day with a family service project: yard work for one of our neighbors from the old ward. Afterward, we all got together for a family barbecue at the parents' house. Then there was just enough time to go home, clean up, and relax a little before we met up for the firework show! We went with the Merrells to the same park we went to last year, and this time the parents joined us! It was a great time with great company.

And of course, no Fourth of July is complete without a handstand contest.

I love the Fourth of July!!!

... that we love french fries?

Matt and I found a poutin truck one night. He got the classic fries and gravy and I got a bowl of philly cheesesteak fries.

That's the face of dreams coming true.

We love french fries!

... that all of my wildest dreams came true?

Matt and I are quickly and unapologetically turning into "the crazy pet people."

I was having lunch with one of my favorites, the fabulous Nicki, a few months ago and we were talking about pets. I mentioned to her that Matt had told me that I could have a bunny someday. I think Matt only said I could have a bunny for two reasons: 1) he feels bad that he has 5 snakes and I only have 2 hamsters (obviously so unfair), and 2) he thinks that having a bunny will bridge the gap to having a dog in the house. We'll see about that (who am I kidding, I'm a sucker for anything fluffy), but for right now, I had told him that I would wait to have a bunny until I could stay home with it. I had bunnies when I was little and they lived in a hutch outside and were the saddest little bunnies in the world, so I wanted to make sure that if I got a bunny now, it would live inside and be house trained and be around people and be happy. And I am a reasonable, patient adult who can make rational decisions about my future, so I was okay with waiting.

A month later she sent me a message that said "I FOUND YOUR BUNNY!" with a link to KSL. When I clicked on the link, I saw the cutest picture of the most adorable bunny I had ever seen! The add said she was friendly, house trained and FREE!!! What? I couldn't believe it! I called Matt IMMEDIATELY and asked if I could call her (in actuality I was giving him a warning that I was absolutely going to call her). He responded with, "I thought you wanted to wait to get a bunny?" and I think I said something like "SHE'S FREE AND ADORABLE AND IF I DON'T CALL THIS LADY RIGHT NOW SHE'S GOING TO BE GONE SO I'M CALLING HER OKAY BYE!"

So I called the KSL lady and yes! She still had the bunny! I asked her why she was getting rid of it and she said that she had FOUND IT!!! She had seen some boys being mean to it by her apartment complex and taken it away from them! HORRIBLE! After yelling at them, she asked them where they had gotten it, and they told her they had found it. So she posted pictures of it around her complex asking if anyone had lost it, but no one was looking for her! MY HEART WAS BREAKING! She was going to keep it herself, but she already had too many animals and she was moving soon, so she just wanted to make sure it would go to a good home! THIS BUNNY NEEDED ME TO SAVE HER!!!!!!!!!!!

Matt and I drove over to see her that night and I instantly fell in love. She is gorgeous, sweet, friendly, calm, and so stinking cute I can't stand it!!! I knew right away that we were going to keep her, but we didn't have any supplies and it was too late to go to the pet store. So we left her with her rescuer for one more night and promised to come back. We went home and scoured KSL again for a cage and SCORE! We found a great one for super cheap! So I picked it up the next day, ran to the pet store for a few extras, then raced over to pick her up and bring her home!

When Nicki sent me the link, she said that this bunny needed to be mine because she looked like a Tina. While I couldn't agree more, I wanted to give her a name of her own. I tried to think of something that maybe was close to Tina? And then I remembered my girl at work Alaina who has a bunny that looks like this bunny and also a cat named Zooey Deschanel. And then it came to me: ChrisTina Aguilera. That is her name. Perfect.

Right from the start she was THE BEST BUNNY IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!! She was completely potty trained: only one little bunny pellet outside of her cage on the first day we got her and not a single accident since! She is seriously amazing! AND to top that, we trained her to use a litter box inside her cage, so I don't even have to clean her whole cage out every time! She is so smart! She loves to cuddle and be scratched behind her ears and run circles around my feet when I'm not paying enough attention to her. She loves to hide under the bed and the couch, but I trained her to run to me when I make kissing sounds. She loves to run around the apartment and jump on everything, but she doesn't shed too much so it's fine. Although Matt does NOT like it when she jumps up on the couch; he says I'm too soft with her. But how can I not be?

She is THE CUTEST!!!

This is the best thing that has happened in my life since my sisters gave me two hamsters for my birthday.

UPDATE: ChrisTina Aguilera has turned into the fattest bunny ever. Matt says I need to put her on a diet. But she doesn't even look fat!



Right? Also, I think she is a boy. Oops.

I love ChrisTina Aguilera so much!!!

... that we went crabbing?

In planning Oregonfest 2014, Matt had mentioned that one thing you can do on the coast is rent a crabbing boat. I had no idea what this entailed (other than being in a boat and somehow collecting crabs), but I love boats and the ocean, so it seemed like a pretty fun idea to me. We found a place where we could rent a boat for 3 hours, so we decided to split the time and go crabbing in two groups.

Oh. My. Fun.

We seriously had a blast! It was a lot of work and probably one of the dirtiest, craziest things I've ever done, but it was SO FUN!!! First, you take three huge, disgusting chunks of frozen fish or chicken,

Lash one to the inside of each trap,

Throw the traps into the water,


Drive the boat around a little bit,

Take pictures of the seals,

Pull up the traps,

Haul in the crabs,

Throw back the little ones,

And throw the traps back in again! There were crabs and water and fish guts everywhere and we were all dirty and soaking wet but it was seriously so much fun!!!

 

We didn't actually catch that many crabs that were big enough to keep, but we ended up with four to steam and take home.


It was kind of extremely disturbing to eat something that you know you pulled out of the ocean and brought home in a bucket, but add enough garlic butter and they were delicious! Crabbing was probably my favorite part of the whole vacation. It was just SO MUCH FUN!!!

I love new adventures!

... that Oregon knows how to have a good time?

Our beach houses were amazingly positioned in the perfect location: right in between Pacific City and Tillamook. Which was important, because there were many, many trips to Tillamook.

So much cheese. So much ice cream. So much happiness.

But there is more than just dairy products there. One morning while Matt was doing a little work, the ladies and I decided to tour the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center.

It was this interesting little museum/shop that had all kinds of spinning wheels, looms, blankets, quilts, and handmade trinkets. They had several old ladies there putting on fascinating spinning and quilting demonstrations. And they HAD a free spinning wheel.

This thing was sitting on the front porch of the museum with a "Free" sign on it and I could not believe my eyes. It is beautiful! And so cool!!! Some lady had found it at a garage sale and was worried that it was going to end up in the dumpster. She couldn't bear the thought of it being thrown away, so she brought it to the textile center where she knew someone would find it and love it. Someone like me! It turned out that it is not exactly functional, but I don't even care. It is so cool, I couldn't even help myself. Mom said she would ask Dad to drive it home for me, and it was a done deal! I called Matt to tell him I was bringing it home and I'm pretty sure he vowed to never let me go anywhere on my own again, but he didn't say no, and now it is gracing our living room. It was supposed to go in my sewing room, but I haven't moved it in there yet because of laziness. And I love it.

We also went into Pacific City quite a bit. We left the babies at home one night with Grandpa and Grandma and caught a late night movie in town (Edge of Tomorrow was... not terrible), grabbed some pizza one day for lunch, and made many many trips to stock up on Wild Cherry Pepsi. Of course.

We love being tourists!

... that Oregon is almost like home?

I love the beach!

Being in Oregon reminded me of home so much! I haven't been to the beach in so long, it was so great just to be near the ocean. I almost didn't care that it was freezing cold. We visited the tide pools one day,

And rented a skim board one day,

And there were lots of games of "Run Away From the Waves,"

And since I am married to the self proclaimed King of Smores, obviously there were bonfires.

I love the beach!!!

... that we went to Oregon again?

Harrisons love Portland. They have an inexplainable connection with that city; over half of the kids have lived there at one point in their lives. When Matt and I were first dating, we went to Oregon twice: once for Nicki's graduation and once for a family reunion. Who goes to a family reunion with their boyfriend when they've only been dating for a few months? Oh that's right. Me. Geez. What was I thinking?? Oh well, at least it worked out.

Anyway, Harrisons LOVE Portland and try to gather there once every few years or so it seems. This year, the Vegas Harrisons announced that they were taking a trip to the Oregon coast and anyone who wanted to join was welcome! Matt and I decided to go up early and spend a few day in Portland with Jamie and Andy, and they showed us a great time!

There was dinner, ice cream, crepe parties, soccer friends, church, breakfast, grocery shopping, and their cutest apartment that reminded me of my place in San Francisco that I absolutely LOVED. We even got to visit with Nicki and Maxwell and Dave for family dinner on Sunday! It was so fun, I wish we could have stayed in Portland longer! But the ocean was calling!!!

Oregon is GORGEOUS!!! The lushest greenest mountain forests right up to the edge of the beautiful beach. So beautiful! And our beach house?

Perfect! Jamie and Andy found an adorable little beach house, so we decided to split it with them for the week. The Williams and the parents shared another beach house a few blocks from ours, along with Byron's parents and sister. Lance even tagged along and stayed with us in our house. It turned out perfect! There was room for everyone, we weren't too crowded, and Lance didn't even have to sleep in the loft. But that didn't keep us from telling him that that was where he was going to sleep just to scare him for a good 5 minutes.

Hilarious.

I love Oregon!