portland, april 2015.

a couple of my best and dearest friends live in portland. so obviously i needed to visit.  

remy stayed a couple days with travis's parents and i had a little break from only-parent life. 

flying in was a beautiful sight. 

to sum up my impression of oregon/portland area, i would use the word charming. 

moss growing on everything, beautiful homes, flowering bushes on every corner. 

caught this man doing some sort of meditation or tai chi on mount taber.

one of the days we were there, we (my brother reed, sara his lady, erika, and alyssa) drove to cannon beach with the goal of capturing some beautiful engagement pictures. we were bummed that it was so sunny. (seriously, we were bummed about a sunny beach day in oregon...?) we still got some pretty shots and i really really needed to see the Pacific that day.

being at the beach with my main ladies from our hawaii days, always the best.

these ladies. they know me so well. some of the best memories i have are with them. actually more than some, probably 70 percent. we cried together, laughed, were completely inappropriate. so, the usual. i always learn from erika and alyssa; they are pretty wise gals.

 another thing about portland.
every single thing in that city tastes the best. 
i didn't have a single "not impressed" feeling with any of the food we ate. which was a lot.
here's a place called jam on hawthorne, where we had breakfast/lunch. i had the blueberry chai pancakes. they were vegan, so i was skeptical.
probably top ten best mouthfuls of food i've ever had.

pretty great seeing this perfect couple together.

portland, you are really so nice and so charming.

pretty weird for this utahn to see.

i found a remy sized guitar at a thrift shop, which i'm going to give him on tues for his birthday!

spent a lazy morning at erika's eating the amazing real oatmeal travis made.

another delicious place, tried venezuelan mole.

it was really nice going on a trip with my soon to be sis-in-law and getting closer. love this lady.

tried incredible drinking chocolate here, cinnamon, milk, and chili chocolate.

of course, had blue star donuts. my fav was the blueberry compote with peanut butter dusting.

 you're going to have to deal with how out of order these are. more from our beach day.

 

 of course we went to powell's several times and i couldn't help buying books. a bookstore that takes up a whole city block!!!!!

 saying goodbye.

 portland, thanks for the delicious food, best chai tea i've ever had, friendly people, and chance to see the people i love.

xo.