Last weekend Justin and I joined three other
couples in Sunriver, Oregon.
The Barlows moved to Dallas in October and by New Years Eve Laura was
already planning a ‘couplespalozza’.
Sommer offered up their family rental in Sunriver and we’ve been looking
forward to it for months.
Sommer helped Justin and I plan our first family
vacation (without any extended family) to Sunriver in the summer of 2012. We LOVED it and Justin’s been itching
to go back ever since. Since then
Sommer’s family has purchased and renovated a home in Sunriver so I’ve been
lucky enough to go down the last two falls with girlfriends. This was our first time traveling with
other couples, without children, and it was glorious. The Reynolds, Barlows,
and LeeMasters are three of our most favorite couples and we always have lots
of fun with them.
My Mom and Val willingly accepted my invitation to
come up and stay with our kids. Such a HUGE help and comfort!
We headed out first thing Wednesday morning and
after a few more stops than anticipated we arrived in
Sunriver around 4pm. Laura presented
the ladies with t-shirts she’d designed and then we were off on the inaugural
bike ride.
The shirts say, “find your tribe. love them hard”
inspired by a quote she loves from “One Plus One” by Jojo Moyes
“Everyone I’ve ever met who was worth knowing was a
bit different at school. You just
need to find your people
Find my people?
Your tribe.
You know, you spend your whole life feeling like you don’t quite fit in
anywhere. And then you walk into a
room one day, whether it’s at a university or an office or some kind of club,
and you just go, ‘Ah. There they
are.’ And suddenly you feel at
home.”
Laura is one of the most social and outgoing people
I know. I love being a part of her
tribe. What’s even better is that
all of our spouses are best of friends too. Seriously, the combination of these couples is a rare
find. My parents had a few couples
they traveled with while I was growing up and I mentioned to my Mom that I
think I’ve found my Gedris’ and Whittaker’s – I can see us traveling with these
couples for the next 30 years.
Justin and Ben are often referred to as “the twin
towers”
Riding through Sunriver immediately puts me in my
happy place. There is something so
peaceful and relaxing about this place.
I love, love, love it.
We ate a delicious dinner at the Brewery and then
spent the evening at the house munching on junk food, downing $0.89, 64 oz
Polar Pops from the nearby convenience store, and watching season one of the
BBC series Poldark – pretty much every evening repeated the above.
Thursday morning we hit the trails on foot either
running or walking then we biked to the pickleball courts for a massive
pickleball tournament.
It’s tradition to stop at the bridge for a picture
– LeeMasters had to meet us there via car after getting something sent off to Kent's soon to be job in Atlanta {boo!}
I’d previously won the pickleball championship in
the Fall 2015 girls’ trip so I felt Justin and I were in a good position to win
it all. Unfortunately, we lost our
first game to the LeeMasters. We
easily beat the Reynolds and Barlow’s but sadly we never got a chance to
rematch and humble the LeeMasters.
We cleaned up back at the house and then headed
into Bend for date night.
Strolling along the river at Drake Park.
There was a moment that all of us were taking
selfies – slightly embarrassing, but not enough to keep us from doing it.
We ate dinner at a yummy pizza joint and then the highlight
of the evening was the Bend Escape Room, we weren’t quite sure what to expect
but gathered this from the website:
“A physical adventure game where
participants are placed into a room and have to use teamwork along with
elements of the room to solve a series of puzzles, find clues, and escape the
room within a set time limit. Each room is themed and has a unique storyline
that engages the players through their environment.”
Our mission was: “A young girl has gone missing and a tactical
response team has been formed to find her. In the hunt to track down the
kidnappers your team discovers an abandoned warehouse, you must search the
building and find anything that could lead to her rescue. Threats of a bomb are
found and time is running out.”
The success
rate for our mission was 2% - not surprising that we too failed to save young
Lucy in time. Turns out we’re not as bright as we’d imagined ourselves to be;
however, the experience was lots of fun.
Friday
morning was a 13 mile bike ride out to Benham Falls.
First a redo picture at the bridge now with
everyone
And more photos at another bridge crossing where
the paved path turns into a dirt trail out to the falls.
Benham Falls, Justin’s first visit – though you can’t
see the actual falls behind us because all we have are crummy phone pictures
The outdoor pool was open on Friday since the
indoor pool was closed for maintenance – perfect way to enjoy the beautiful 82
degree day. After dinner in the
village we hit the trails for an evening ride.
Laura breaks out the selfies stick even mid-ride
Sunriver is beautiful - in a different way than
were we live, but still very beautiful.
Camden coached Justin and I into a few cutesy shots
We went into Bend on Saturday morning for brunch at
the McKay Cottage (#1 on tripadvisor) – I love good breakfast food and this was
delicious. We ate outside in a
cute garden – perfect setting.
The weather was predicted to be 20 degrees cooler
and rainy on Saturday we planned to spend the rest of the day indoors. To make it up to the boys for watching
an entire season of Poldark we went to Captain America: Civil War – nobody was
really impressed with the movie.
We revisited the Brewery in Sunriver for dinner, picked up another round
of Polar Pops and spent the evening hanging out at the house and enjoying the
hot tub.
The Barlow’s left for the Portland airport first
thing Sunday morning. The rest of
us went to church in Bend before heading home. I tell you, nearly every time we visit a random ward while
on vacation we have an amazing experience. I love visiting wards away from home. This meeting was no exception. We’d met a woman and her family just
before sacrament started and caught a glimpse of her story – inactive, 3 kids,
at church cause her in-laws are in town.
The two speakers were fantastic – this was the first time the brother
had spoken in the 10 years he’d been in the ward. He knew, through the spirit, back in January he’d be asked
to speak on a specific topic. The
topic was exactly what the sweet sister sitting in front of us needed to hear. We all knew it. We all felt it and could see how much
the message touched her. It was
amazing. She went up to him
immediately afterward to let him know that the message he shared was prepared
for her. Another reminder that
Heavenly Father cares about each and every one of us. He knows us and knows what we need – it’s never too late to
come back to Him.
The ride home was long. The girls (and Kent)
watched a chick flick in the back somewhere in there. I was glad to get home and surprisingly glad to get back to
the routine of real life. I had
told my Mom that once I walk out that door I have zero problem checking out and
that if she needed to remind me at any time that I left her home with FIVE kids
she could give me a call. I knew
she and Val would be fine – the kids loved having them here and I am so, so
grateful for their help. Knowing
they were leaving first thing Monday morning Canada-bound Abigail mentioned a
few times Sunday night that she wanted a picture with them before they left –
sadly, we forgot. Perhaps they’ll
swing by this direction again sometime soon.
