Our Trip to Portland

On October 2nd we headed to Portland, OR to visit my brother Matt, his wife Windy, Kolby (2) and Kaya (almost 4 months). The main reason we wanted to go was to meet sweet little Kaya but it was also great to have a visit with the Northwest Stevensons. Kaya is absolutely adorable. She's a very good natured baby and is mostly quiet unless the girl wants to eat and then watch out! She's also smiling and very verbal. She "talked" a lot during our visit. She might give Aunt Nat a run for my money someday!

Thursday night Windy picked us up at the airport and we headed back to their house. Kolby was already in bed (it was around 9 o'clock) but Emerson woke up when we got him out of the car seat and then Kaya woke up for a feeding. They had converted their bonus room into the Sudar Suite so we had plenty of room and were very comfortable.

Friday morning we woke up to a very excited Kolby. We hung out around the house and visited. Emerson loves his big cousin Kolby and liked to watch him as he moved around the room. Kolby tossed a toy near Emerson and he laughed out loud so Kolby kept lobbing things at him while E giggled. It was adorable. Emerson also laughed out loud when Kolby would shake his booty. We had lunch at their house and after the kids woke up from a nap we headed to some local farms to visit pumpkin patches. The first farm was still getting into Halloween mode and didn't have much going on yet. The second farm was ready for us and we had a lot of fun. Kolby played on the playground a little bit and E went down a slide for the first time (with Mama's help). We went on a hayride out to the pumpkin patch. It was pretty exciting because it was my first official hay ride. I've been on a truck dropping bales of hay to feed my Grandpa Bernie's cows, but I've never been on a relaxing hay ride. We rode out to the pumpkin patch where Windy got some great photos of the kids and Kolby selected a pumkin. That night we went to a local pizza parlor for dinner and then headed home where we put the kids to bed and then the guys watched sports and we relaxed. Saturday was also when Matt noticed that Emerson had another tooth! One of his top teeth has broken through and is on it's way out. When you're looking at him it is the tooth just to the right of his middle teeth.

Saturday we got up and went to Kolby's gymnastic class. They have a viewing room where we could watch him (and Matt) during the class. It was cute to see Kolby try to pay attention to teacher and run around with all his 2 year old energy. We spent the rest of the day hanging around their house and playing on the swing set in the backyard where E had his first time on a swing. That night Matt prepared some awesome ribs in the smoker and we sat down to a delicious dinner. Once the kids were in bed we watched the CSU game, too bad they played terrible and lost. Oh well, better luck next time Rammies!

Sunday we had breakfast burritos and hung out for a little while before flying home. Emerson did great on the way out and back and was once again a great little traveler. Fellow passengers on both flights commented on what a great job he did. It's funny to see people look at you skeptically when you're boarding and then smile and compliment you and you're leaving. We had a wonderful time and can't wait until we see them again when they come out here for Christmas.