So we went mainly for the awesome, amazing BIG event, but along the way some other real fun stuff got to happen too. First off, John and I were ALONE! We flew on an airplane all by ourselves. It was Fun....cool...relaxing! Here is a BIG shout out to my wonderful parents to stayed with my kids, and to the Yates we helped my parents stay sane by providing a play-date! We got there and some old friends from med school, Scott and Amy Richins picked us up. We went out to dinner with them at a whole in the wall Greek restaurant. It was so Portland, and so perfect. I am sad I didn't get any pictures, but we really had a great time. Telling old stories and telling each other our BIG plans for the future. It was wonderful.
We had a wonderful night out on the town, and yet we still had our parents waiting up for us, our Oregon parents anyway. The Minettos. They so wonderfully hosted us for the night. We even had mints on our pillows when we arrived. It was the best accommodations ever, with the best people. We stayed up late and chatted. He let us know that he was being released from his calling as Bishop on Sunday. We were so sad to hear that their church time had been moved to 2 o'clock and we weren't going to be able to visit our old ward because of our 4:30 flight. We were there when he got put in, in fact John was his executive secretary, and we so wanted to see him give his farewell testimony. Just another "missed" ultimately because of residency.
We enjoyed a nice breakfast together, and they headed off with us to the sealing. We got to see some other wonderful people while we were at the sealing, which was so awesome...the Jones, Jill, and Sister Ditty. Love them all so much. They were so kind to us, it made us miss them all so much. After the sealing we snapped a FEW pics and were off to Sweet Tomatoes to share some yummy food while reminiscing about the great happening of the day. It was fun to see Bren's parents again. They are always so kind to us.
We then headed down to Veneta(2hours) to spend some time with B & B and their cute little family. It was fun, and I can now see why Brenley thinks her little McCoy is a Ball of ENERGY! We don't get to see these guys very often, and non of us are huge phone talkers, but when we get together it is like no time has passed at all. I love it. As we were leaving to go out to dinner, Bren commented something about how crazy they must look running around getting ready with their kids. John just laughed and said, "I was just thinking how we are in reverse roles. Before it was always us running around crazy with our little ones, and now we are the on-lookers." It was so true. 6 years ago it would have been exactly the opposite. So grateful for all the "little" blessings in both of our lives since then.
We talked and talked and then woke up in time to head to church. B & B would be blessing Oaklee. It was awesome to be a part of that also. Oh, and Bryce's birthday of course! Then we had to make our quick good-byes and head back to Portland.
On the way back, John and I decided we were not going to miss Bishop Minetto's testimony, so we stopped at Arby's grabbed a sandwich, changed back into church clothes and head over to the church. It was so da- ja- vu. We walked in, and my friend Julie was out in the hall soothing her little newborn. She did a double take when we came in, and gave us big hugs. It was the best. We then slipped in just in time to see our old awesome stake president released and call the new bishopric. We didn't however make it in un-noticed. The Balough's were behind us, and they were happy to see us, with Matt even commenting, "Did you come back for a calling?" The Ditty's waved, so did the NewMeyers, President Wilder raised his eyebrows and smiled from the stand, and his wife sitting next to us smiled surprisingly at me. It was so fun. I wished we could have spoken to so many people. That is just an awesome ward. But alas, we heard our cute former Bishop and wife give their testimonies, and we had to leave. He didn't let us down, he was stalwart, with a hint of fun in his testimony and I loved it. I knew the Lord had chosen a good servant who could project His love to us. He smiled and waved as we walked out the door. I forgot to mention before, the Minetto's also let us use their car. Changed the oil and filled it up just like any good parent would if their child had a ways to travel. Love them so much.
We made it to the airport just in time to find out our flight had been delayed for an hour. (Thank you Richins) We were bummed that we could have stayed longer at our old ward, but thus is life.
The whole trip seemed like visiting an alternate reality. Especially since we didn't have our kids with us. I cryed when we were leaving. We left a lot when we moved. Oregon and the many amazing people we know there will always be so tender to our hearts. We wished we could have had more time to see so many people, like the Hoyt's and Hone's...and many many others. It would have been the icing on the cake if we could have attended a baptism while we were there, maybe next time Grant! We have to go back! Maybe not to live...we will see, but we have to go back for a good long visit!
