Portland Trip

I had a 7 week summer break before beginning my last semester of nursing. It was really nice to finally have a break after three straight semesters of nursing.  Even though David was also on break part of that time, he was studying for his first CPA exam. So what that meant is I needed to get away so he could study and I wouldn't be bored out of my mind! I decided to make a visit to the Pearson's in Portland!

I stayed for about a week and a half. It was so fun to go do all the fun things in Portland!

First we went to Vodoo Doughnuts!

Brinlee checking out the doughnuts.

I got the oreo one and Ashley got the bacon and maple! yum!

Portland was really beautiful!

Just getting a drink from Multnomah Falls

Mckay took us on a tour of his new Dental school! I didn't get very many pictures…

On Saturday we all took a trip to go to an indoor waterpark that was connected to an airplane museum. Ashley, Mckay and I took turns staying with Brinlee and Nora while one or two of us went down the slides. There were four different slides, a wave pool, hot tubs, and jungle gyms for kids. It was way fun!

Swimming with Brinlee!

I think my favorite place we went to was Salt & Straw. They had kind of different flavors of ice cream, I got the pear and bleu cheese…. It was so good though! I don't think I could taste the bleu cheese. 

One of the days we went to the mall where they were having a frozen party… every little girls dream come true! It was cute to see all the little girls dressed up as princess. They even had Anna and Elsa there in real life! Here is brinlee in her cute fairy dress.

Since we didn't get enough ice cream earlier in the week we got some more. 

So, on Sunday I was with Ashley in Relief Society holding Nora. We were listening to a nice lesson when all the sudden we hear a loud noise come from Nora that only meant one thing…. right away Ashley told me to hold her up, but the damage had already been done. Nora had an explosion on my lap. Pretty soon everyone was laughing at us… We had to excuse ourselves. 

I was able to forgive Nora…

Later that day we were able to go to the Portland Temple visitors center. We didn't actually get to go on the grounds, they were closed.

I was lucky to get to sleep on the top bunk in Brinlee's room. The first few nights she even crawled into bed with me because I am her favorite aunt ;) I had so much fun hanging out with Ashley and playing with Brinlee and Nora. It made me wish we lived by each other! Thanks for having me Pearsons!

Spring Break 2014

For spring break David and I decided we needed to get out of Rexburg and go somewhere fun! After a long and tough semester, I was so glad to be done. A week was not enough!

We packed our bags and first headed to Las Vegas!

First we stopped in St. George and stayed with a family David knew from his mission. We stopped by the St. George temple.

We had a beautiful drive from St. George to Las Vegas

 Standing above the city of Las Vegas.

We also had a little time to stop at the Las Vegas temple after we visited some wards on Sunday from David's mission. It was fun to see all the people remember David and who were so excited to see him. We were invited to dinner at another members home which was super fun.

Las Vegas Temple

On Monday we decided to spend the day outside and we went on a hike, which turned out to be more of a slightly inclined trail.

When we came in we noticed a sign that said "Do not feed the wild horses or burros" I was sure to keep a look out for them and with my eagle eyes I was able to spot some about a mile away. Of course we had to get a closer look, so I convinced David to walk off the path towards them to get a closer look. Sure enough there were about 5 wild burros. I think they can be mean so we didn't get much closer.

In Las Vegas we stayed with a really awesome couple. The husband was in the mission presidency while David was there. They were very welcoming and had this cute little dog with a funny personality. I almost took her home.

Monday night it was time to hit up the Las Vegas strip!

We went earlier on in the evening and stayed for a couple hours

Inside Caesar's Palace with cool painted ceilings.  In here were the Forum Shops, an indoor shopping mall.

David looking away..

We had some delicous ice cream at serendipity.

Inside the hotel was a little garden with a ton of bright flowers

We were sure to watch the fountain show at the Belagio. 

Our next stop was California!! We got to stay with Aunt Judy and Uncle Bob for a couple nights.

They were nice enought to feed us…. some bear meat and bison ribs of course!

I actually liked them! The bear was probably my favorite out of the two. 

At Venice beach, probably the most entertaining beach in California with lots of interesting people and shows.

That night we went to a Clippers and Nuggets game at the Staples Center in L.A. I have always wanted to go to an NBA game so David surprised me with tickets!

Blake Griffin!

We weren't exactly court side…

But it was a lot of fun!

We ended up paying more for a food then the cost of the tickets! I think a hot dog was like $152.99… at least it seemed that ridiculous!

The next day we did some tourist things and went to Hollywood.

Hey it's David Butler! I didn't realize my husband was famous, I'm still waiting for that money to show up!

Huntington Beach

On Rodeo Drive, at the store House of Bijan. Outside the store sits a really nice Bugatti. I learned that apparently this store is "the worlds most expensive store" and it is by appointment only. So of course I had my appointment and only bought a few things :)

David was so excited when he found out there was a Portillo's by L.A. This was one of his favorite restraunts in Chicago. We drove out of our way just so we could eat there. They had hotdogs, hamburgers, cheese fries, and a chocolate cake shake that was to die for.

Our last night we stayed with Aunt Judy and Uncle Bob, and the next morning packed up and drove all the way from California to Rexburg in one day! We are so grateful to our family and friends that let us stay with them along the way!