Labor Day in Portland

I have been travelling a lot lately.  It started out with Utah, then San Diego and my third trip was to Portland over Labor day!

I have three major reasons to want to see my family all the time... 

Those reasons are Austin...

 Brody...

And Braden (apparently I didn't have a photo of him from Portland.)

 One of the favorite past times of all three boys was this... getting food out of every possible source.  I believe Brody had a fudge-cicle for breakfast one morning. Austin didn't like the cold so he would get any other type of food he could.  

 Austin set his sights on basically every animal in his sight. He was even daring enough to hug Itty Bitty.  The old cat put up with it decently, but you could tell he was close to showing Austin who was boss.

Over the weekend we did a lot of fun, relaxed things.  I bought a car, and Maren and Blake bought a van. We watch the first BYU game (which was torture since they almost lost), and we celebrated Toren's 30th birthday!

 Since we didn't want to share the cake with the kids, we waited until they were all in bed!  After singing Happy Birthday, Braden came down.  He told Maren "Mom, can I stay down here?  It is just soooo boring up there (in bed)."  Braden is such a little negotiator, but with something so cute it is no wonder Maren let him stay.

He sat on Blake's lap and just chattered to himself for a good hour!  He was adorable!

Toren requested that my mom make the famous chocolate cake, with no additions... and that is what he got. 

Portland was a great relaxing trip, and since we purchased a new car I was able to drive it home.  It was a turbulent ride where I way overdosed on 5 hour energy to stay awake. Although I had a hard time sleeping, I was able to drive safety home!

Thank you to my Aunt Patty who let me take a day of rest in Utah.  I got a great chance to catch up with them and see some friends!

Overall this was a great great trip.  I love having such a wonderful family!