A Trip to Oregon

Hey! Long time no blog! I knew it was getting bad when I was talking to my Grandma on the phone the other day (HI GRANDMA!) and she made a point to mention that she loved my blog...when I bothered to write something (I'm paraphrasing.  My grandma is a really nice lady and would never say anything like that, but it was definitely implied).  I will say that I do have a solid excuse because I was out of town for a while.  I think I need to split the trip into a couple of posts, and we'll start with the few days I spent in Oregon visiting my parents.

This is their backyard.  Isn't it a dream?  My world is currently buried under snow right now, so this looks particularly wonderful to me today.

Since I last visited, they got a barn!

And it's enormous!

They also got some goats! Aren't they cute??!

The goats kill me.  They are hilarious animals.

Mom and dad have always had chickens, but now they have more!

And in this batch they ended up with a rooster, too.  Whoops!

I also got to spend some quality time under with my parents' Bernese Mountain Dogs.

Windisch

Davos.  I am pretty sure I had food in my hand when I took this.

The animals were great and all, but the highlight was probably getting to see these two:

Grace

Piper

Those are my nieces! Aren't they adorable?!  Piper was born right when I moved Andy up to Alaska.  I can't believe how big she is!  Once they warmed up to me again we had fun playing on the deck:

She looks like she's up to something.  Probably accurate!

I am horrified to know what I look like under the magnification of those binoculars.

Watch out - this next picture is extra adorable...

Grace is so excited to be snuggling with her sister and Piper is just...worried.

And to top the visit off, we got to celebrate my sister in law Deanna's birthday.  29 forever! 

Piper devoured her cupcake and ice cream.  She and I are definitely related!

It was a great visit and that was only the beginning!! More to come!