Back from Vacation

Well, I made it back, safe and sound from Sacramento/Portland. I had a good time in both places.

Sacramento/Placerville~
I got in at 11pm, Mark picked me up and took me to his and Ashly's apartment to crash for the night. We stayed up for about an hour chatting and catching up, but both of them had to be up and at 'em, so we kinda kept it short. I was awake bright and early, still being on CST time and all, so was up when they both got up to get ready for the day. Grama & Grampa Booth came to pick me up around 11am. We headed straight to Sunrise Mall from there where JCPenney's was having a fabulous sale! Almost everything in the store was 50% off and I had a $15 off coupon if I spent $75. Well, by the time I had picked out what I wanted, I ended up making two $75 purchases and got to use the coupon twice, so I got 4 pairs of capris, one VERY nice church outfit and a pair of jammies for $120. Not bad if I do say so myself. Being the product of two very awesome Gramas that know how to shop the sales and get the best deals, what would you expect, right? So, now I have some summer clothes that fit and they are cute to boot! After shopping, we headed to the Old Spagetti Factory. YUMMO! Grama got her favorite lasagna, Grampa had spinach ravioli and I had spagetti and a meatball. We all got spumoni for dessert. MMMMMM, I can still taste it! After that, we headed up the hill to Placerville and home. We spent the rest of the afternoon just relaxing and hanging out. After supper, I went to visit my Dad & Sandee for awhile, but was wiped by 8:30(10:30 CST), so I headed back to Gram's to crash.
Woke up on Saturday a little later than Friday, but still was up early. Had breakfast and headed back to Dad's. We had planned to go gold panning that afternoon. Bunnie, my dad's rottie(sweetest dog ever), came with us. She is a river dog for sure! That, and she'd follow my Dad to the ends of the earth if he asked her! Anyway, Dad goes goldpanning on a regular basis and when he has a full day, he has this dredger that does alot of the work for you. However, we didn't have all day, so we took the basics and set out to scout a location that would be lucky. Well, the one he wanted had no trespassing signs and barbed wire, I took that as a sign to stay away, so we went where he has gone before and just choose a different part of the creek. If you have never gone gold panning, you wouldn't know you are basically going to end up soaking wet, so I was slightly unprepared, but adapted nonetheless. My tennis shoes were soaked, as were the bottom half of my capris, but in the three hours we were there, we made significant progress on the area we were in and I found the teensiest piece of gold for a souvenir! Dad said if I had another 10,000 of those, we'd have an ounce! HA! It is alot of work, but surprisingly fun. I guess its the prospect of finding something? We ended up bringing home about a third of a five gallon bucket of what my Dad refers to as "concentrates" to pan from home. This was the stuff that was left after picking out all the big rocks and most of the dirt. I went grocery shopping after we got back, I was planning to cook brunch for Mother's Day and I needed supplies! Got back to Gram's and unloaded and took a brief nap before we all left to meet Dad & Sandee at Casa Ramos, a Mexican eatery with nummy food. The rest of the evening was spent with Melannie shopping for Mother's Day presents.
Sunday dawned and again, slept a little later than the previous day. I got up and made myself a smoothie for breakfast, wasn't serving brunch until 11am. After that, I started on my preparations. I had bought fresh fruit - strawberries, pineapple, cantaloupe, oranges and grapes - so that all had to be washed and sliced. I also had bought ingredients to make belinis, they were virgin(normally made with champagne) and very good. Had cranberry and pomegranate juice with sparkling water and simple syrup and fresh fruit slices for decor. Then Melannie and her husband Angus came to help me with the rest. We made Texas toast french toast, pork and turkey sausage, cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs and hashbrowns. It was almost as good as going out to eat, just more economical and of course delectable when you know how it was prepared! Melannie's mother and my Aunt Lynn and my Uncle Matt came, as well as Dad & Sandee, so with Gram, Gramps and me, there was nine of us. We had a good time laughing, telling stories and of course EATING! We opened cards and gifts after we cleared the table. I think everyone really enjoyed it.
Spent the afternoon just hanging out some more. The plan was for me, Dad and Sandee to meet Mark & Ashly at BJ's in Folsum for dinner. We were going for Ashly's birthday AND because I am a complete nerd and HAVE TO eat there whenever I am in the area. I love that restaurant! Can you say PAZOOKIE?! They make, to order, the best dessert ever, its super simple, but they make it awesome. Its a fresh baked cookie(your choice) served hot from the oven with a scoop of ice cream on top! HEAVEN!! I had pizza for my dinner and that was awesome too. I REALLY wish they'd come our direction, so far, they are a West Coast thing, I keep begging, maybe someday they'll listen to me. After dinner, we headed back home to wallow in our gluttony. =)
Monday was my last day to spend with Gram & Gramps, so I spent most of it just hanging out with them. Gram and I had pedicures scheduled in the morning, my treat for Mother's Day, so we did that and grabbed Taco Bell taco salads for the three of us on the way home. The afternoon was spent preparing for the BBQ we were having that evening. My sort of goodbye supper. Everyone came over - Matt & Lynn, Mel & Angus, Dad & Sandee AND Mark & Ashly. We had a good time eating and telling stories. The main purpose behind the BBQ was so that Mark & Ashly would have a little extra time with everyone since they live an hour away and are so busy with work and school, they don't get much time in Placerville. They were also my ride back to Sacramento as I was leaving early Tuesday morning to head to Portland. After dinner, we left and went to Mel & Angus' apartment and played a board game for awhile before heading to Sacramento. It was another somewhat late night, but we were all up and moving Tuesday morning and I got to the airport in PLENTY of time to get through the hoops of security and board my plane.

Portland/Beaverton~
I flew into Portland, but mostly was in Beaverton, which is a suburb. Portland is so beautiful in the spring. Everything is so green and fragrant. The trees in the west are SO different from what we have back home, they are tall and majestic somehow. Anyway, I got to the airport where I was met by Mom & Marissa, and Marsha, a very nice lady from the church who was our chaffeur. The purpose of going to Portland was for their annual convention, its four days of praise & worship and teaching the Word. It was an awesome meeting. It is sad that some of our elders are passing on, but awesome to see the younger generation taking the lead and pressing on. Grama and Grampa Wood were there as well, they traveled with Mom & Marissa. I worked in the kitchen two of the days of the meeting. At these meetings, its typical to feed the people twice a day, breakfast and dinner. So I helped with the preperation of the meals and the serving. We cooked for 500 most every day. I love to cook and since I don't get to do too much of it just for myself, I was having a good time cooking that much food. Its amazing the operation they have set up. Their scullery(their term for dish room) is bigger than Mt. Carmel's kitchen! It was alot of fun meeting new people and helping feed God's people. Marissa worked in the dining room those days and she enjoys that alot. The church in Beaverton, Cornerstone Gospel Assembly, is a huge campus consisting of a large sanctuary and an equally large dining room/gymnasium/school. They also own property bordering the church consisting of apartments and dorms, as well as many of the church members living on or right next door to the property. They call it a campus because it really is set up like one. I am in awe of their hospitality and the amount of work that went into preparing and pulling this convention off. Thank you to everyone!
The convention ended Friday afternoon, but one of their regular church services is Friday night, so we had church that evening as well.
Saturday was the day I was to return home, I slept in that morning before having breakfast and packing my things. Mom and the others were scheduled to leave Sunday morning to head back to Indiana/Kentucky.

It was a short visit to both towns, but all in all, good to see my family and friends. The weather was nice in both places, although Portland got steamy for two days, very strange for them at any time, let alone in May.
No more real vacation for me until Christmas, when again, we'll gather for the holidays and our own youth convention.