The Pacific NW

Over Labor Day Weekend Rudy and I went to the Pacific Northwest for a getaway with his friends. 

Robby was going up for the whole week and invited the rest of us to come up for the weekend. He is from Washington, however, right outside of Portland. Needless to say I was confused all weekend. 

Are we in Oregon or Washington? Was a common phrase.
We flew in Friday night and drove straight to Robby's parents house.

Saturday. 

We went on a beautiful hike in the morning outside of... Portland {I think}. Although I was not prepared for a hike at all. 

How funny that boys do not communicate what to pack for trips. 

So I got a whole new outfit for our trip! 

{Brendan, Rudy, Robby, Brian}

{Rudy & Brian decided to jump off the cliff into the river. I was terrified but they got quite the crown gathered to watch them}

{and then he walked around like this cause his shorts were so wet, we had to listen to him scream "mens rights" the whole walk back}

We explored Portland at night. Walking downtown, hitting up a popular bookstore, getting dinner and then making the required Portland stop at Voodoo Donuts.

{This place was huge. I could have stayed there all night}

{The line was out of control and sadly not worth it. They taste like donuts}

Sunday.
We took off with Brian, Brendan and Austin {Rudy's mission friend who lives in OR} to our day trip to Seattle. Its about a 3 hour drive from Portland to Seattle and I got the luxury of sitting back middle seat between Brian and Rudy. How fun!
The drive wasn't too bad and I knitted most of the way.
We went straight to Pike Place Market and got killer parking.

The other boys had all been to Seattle before so they were good tour guides for us.
The Marked is unreal. No wonder its such a hot spot! So many things to look at and buy. I could have been there all day.

 

We had lunch at Pike Place Chowder. Rudy loves Clam Chowder and he was not disappointed.

Of course, the gum wall.

Then off to the Mariners game. The stadium was right in downtown we got prime parking once again.
Going to a Mariners game was absolutely perfect. Checked another stadium off the list, had great weather, great seats, and great company. And they won!

Next up we went to the Space Needle.

 {Rudy was really excited that he was "on" the Space Needle}

Gas Works Park.

We decided to drive back to Portland and get dinner. Our drive was pretty entertaining as we played Heads Up on the way back. Playing with those boys was out of control fun.

{Saw Mt. Rainer in the distance as we stopped at a gas station on the way back}
Monday.
We made the drive back to SLC with Robby. It was a long drive but kinda fun since neither Rudy or I have driven through that part of the country.
The first part of the drive was lined with trees and then we followed the real Oregon Trail. We stopped in either Idaho Falls or Twin Falls, can't keep those cities straight to see this phenomenal bridge over the gorge. And saw some crazies bridge jumping.

It was such a fun trip. Although it was quick I felt like we were able to see soooo much! We were constantly busy. I am so grateful for Rudy's friends. Those guys have such a great friendship and I am glad I get to hang out with them a lot too. 

home improvement

I have recently come to a realization about being a wife. 

Through my single years I have seen a lot of friends get married. And I have seen them get married and then all of a sudden get crafty or homemakery. 

I have associated wife with crafts and once they get a ring on their finger the crafts just start popping out. 

I have seen my sister learn to sew. I have seen wreaths all of a sudden hanging on doors for ever season. I have seen headbands be made and lots and lots of sewing. 

I have not gotten it. I did not understand how when you become a wife all of a sudden you want to make things. I have never had this talent and so I did not think I would have this desire. 

And then...all of a sudden...I wanted to paint a table. 

And then...I got it. I understood how a ring makes you want to craft. 

At least for me anyway. 

I live in a home that is finally mine. ours. the Herrera home. 

I have never had that before. Sure I lived in my Robins home growing up. But it was never mine. Shoot, I couldn't lay on the pillows on the couch if I wanted to. Cause they were my moms and it was her house. Then I lived on my own in the Aves and in Sugarhouse. But it wasn't MY house. I didn't care about that house. I didn't care to take care of it or make it look nice. 

And now...all of a sudden...I have my own house and I care about what it looks like. 

So Rudy and I have been busy fixing up our house. And getting a little crafty. 

My first little project was my end table. We found this in our storage shed and it was the best table to be my tester. I wanted to make it cute for our house. Its funny how things work out--when you put effort and hard work into something, the satisfaction that comes afterwards--its awesome. 

Next up: our kitchen table and chairs. 

I bought these for a great price at our next door estate sale while in Sugarhouse. 

I knew right away that I wanted to paint it but I didn't know what I was getting myself into. 

It was a long project, a lot longer than I was anticipating. But I did take about two weeks off from working (one week at Kellys, another week where I just didn't have the motivation)

The before. 

Sanding & Acetoning. 

Those chairs were brutal. Lots of grooves.  All of the parts that I couldn't reach with the sander had to be removed with acetone. Couldn't paint my nails for days!! The sacrifice for the job. 

Rudy sanded the table. It took a lot of muscle to get the wood stain off. The table and chairs actually looked so beautiful all sanded down. It almost made me sad to paint the pretty wood. 

Priming for two coats. Painting for three coats. Top coating for three coats. 

Finished product. 

I learned A LOT. It was fun to learn something and then to feel like you understand how to do something new. 

I love our new table and chairs!! 

I am so proud of what they look like. Of course they are not perfect but I put in a lot of time and a whole lot of effort into them. 

Our other project has been painting our house. When we moved in we luckily recognized there wasn't much updating to our 1946 home except for painting. The paint was awful colors. We had tan, orange, maroon and green. Way too many colors and weird ones too. 

Rudy worked tirelessly at painting the house. We were suppose to have a friend do it for us. But he bailed and Rudy stepped it up and painted everything. Of course, I helped with edging but he did it all! 

Our bailing friend took the before pictures. So we don't have the best pictures to compare it to. But the after looks great! 

{the whole dining area was green..although it was darker then pictured, you can see behind the kitchen table picture that it is grey now}

{our bedroom use to be an orange tan color, now grey too with our new king bed!}

Kitchen in maroon 

{its crazy how our kitchen feels bigger now that its painted lighter}

The main family area was a light orange tan too. You can see a little bit of it in the picture with my end table. Now its grey and we are starting to put pictures on the wall

We updated fixtures, doorknobs and light switches as well. Its crazy how those can make a big difference too.
Old fixture..

Updated fixture

And my pretty roses on my new table. Just cause they make me happy.