The Big 1-0

2013 has been quite the year for our little family. One of the big events we had to wait alllll year for was our 10 year wedding anniversary. Brad and I were  married Dec 20th in Medford. I can honestly say that if you had told my 19 year old self what my life would be like, and what would've transpired over those ten years, I never would have believed you. It has been harder, more wonderful, more fulfilling than I ever could've imagined. And the cherry on the top is that now we get to be parents. Raising Amelia has also been the hardest, most wonderful, and most fulfilling thing I've ever done haha. We had been wanting to get away to celebrate our anniversary but with little Miss Mia not sleeping through the night and kinda going through a tough phase we decided to take her with us. The truth is, we totally could've left her with family here. They offered a million times but we just kept finding excuses. The thing is, we just didn't want to be away from her... not one bit. She is such a sunshine in our lives and even though being a parent is no cake walk, being together as a family is still the best part of every day.

So we decided to return to where it all began. The Oregon coast is where, when we were dating, we talked of marriage. It's where we went for our honeymoon and where we have spent several of our anniversaries. It's a special place to us and we always love to go and hate to leave. Hopefully we will have a coast house there soon and Mia can learn to share our love of this awesome place. Well, actually, she already is learning- we've taken her to the coast how many times? 5? 6? A bunch for her only being in Oregon accumulatively less than 4 months :) We'll teach her to crab and to love clam chowder. To watch for waves and to follow the tide charts for the best tide pooling. To feel the stickiness of the anemone and all the colors of the tiny crabs from green to purple. That a day at the coast whether it's raining or sunny is still the best day!

We drove over on Friday after Brad got off work. We stayed at a new hotel we haven't been to before that was right in the harbor. It was perfect! We had a full kitchen and I cooked each night. We made rice krispies and steak pinwheels and baked bread. We will absolutely stay there again. Anyway, the first night we got there we ran to Fred Meyer and got everything we needed for the stay. We stocked up the fridge with yummy food and fun drinks and planned out our meals. Amelia ended up sleeping all night that night from about 8pm-5:30am...it was awesome. We were all tired from the week and it was perfect to catch up. The next day, Saturday, we went to breakfast at Mattie's and then headed to the Redwood forest. We hiked up the Trees of Mystery and rode the gondola. Mia was such a trooper and indulged us as we excitedly pointed out each tree, bridge, fern....rock.... :) The trees are absolutely massive. I have very fond memories of going there every other year when I was growing up and I am looking forward to Amelia having similar experiences. There just seems to be a calm there.... a beautiful spirit that just feels so special. Because the trees are so large there is very little light that reaches the ground and so many of our pictures didn't quite turn out. But we still got some good ones and they really capture the day for me. It is a perfect memory.

The next day was Sunday and low tide was at 8:30am. We got up early with Mia so it was easy to get going and get to the beach. We chose a stretch we'd never been to before and it was just amazing. The sky was so blue and the water just perfect. We kept Mia pretty bundled as we waked the length of the beach and back. We had seen some great looking tide pools from the parking area but by the time we got all the way down there we realized there was a stream that we couldn't cross so we turned and walked the length the opposite way. So really no tide pooling occurred but we still had a great time. When we got to the end of the beach we had a lot of fun working on our Christmas present to Meri, Amelia's birthmother. For the past several months we had been planning to do a rotation in her home state in January and had told her we would be seeing her for a visit. We excitedly talked about it as the months and weeks have led up until finally we had to come to grips with the fact that we weren't able to secure a rotation there. All were disappointed to say the least. Then mid December we just sat down, planned it out, and bought Mia and I a ticket to go. It was not easy for us to do since finances are tight in this in-between time before Brad starts residency but we wanted to fulfill our promises to Meri to be as available and open as we possibly could. I miss my friend and I know she would like to see Amelia and not just on video. So we set it up to surprise her Christmas morning. It was a cute photo shoot with Mia :) Anyway then we got back to the hotel, hurriedly packed up (since we had lost track of time....oops...) and headed home. Ahhhh how we already miss it there. We can't wait to go back!

Bedtime stories

 Paul & his ox, Babe

Bundled up and ready to hit the trail!

Love this girl!

She was like this most of the day lol

At the end of the trail before you get on the gondola to ride to the top is the Brotherhood Tree. It's difficult to imagine a tree 19 feet in diameter but here one is!

Our attempts at a family picture....

My personal favorite picture from this day

Words will never be able to express just how long it took for us to get this picture. The girl would not look up for anything on this planet. All she wanted was to eat every single leaf. 

Riding the gondola. Brad, bless his heart, pushed her stroller all the way to the top to get here. 

At the very top

Tired of pictures yet? Well here's day 3...

At the beach we picked...looking one way...

...and the other way.

Amelia's new favorite way to ride:

So for Meri's 'big reveal' we wrote messages in the sand. Each one we moved Mia to a new spot and took the picture. This is the second to last one with the last one being the date we will be seeing her! Once I told Mia where we were going and what we were doing, she was thrilled to play along and cooperated nicely ;)