Vacation Journal - Oakridge/Portland/Seattle - Part 1

I mentioned awhile back that I went on a great vacation to Oregon & Washington for my sister-in-law's wedding and to see my husband's side of the family. We had such a great time and that I thought I would share a few details and pictures about our trip with you! Hope you enjoy it. =)

Day 1 - Arrive in Eugene, OR, visit with family and prep for the wedding

We flew into Eugene, OR which is about an hour away from where my sister-in-law's wedding was going to be. In Eugene, we got to visit with my brother-in-law and his girlfriend. We also went for a trip to Safeway. My husband grew up with Safeway grocery stores his whole life. He used to absolutely love their chicken fingers from the deli and missed them a lot when he moved to the east coast. He was very excited to visit Safeway when we got there to get chicken fingers, but was disappointed to find out that they changed the recipe and weren't as good anymore. What a bummer! But we still had fun hanging out with my brother-in-law and his girlfriend while we ate the disappointing new recipe at their house. I enjoyed visiting with their cats. Here's me with their newest addition, Lola who was born without a tail.

Me and Lola

 After that we got to visit my sister-in-law and her new husband's home in Oakridge, OR. Oakridge is a very beautiful small town tucked away in gorgeous trees. I just fell in love with the beauty of the nature all around them! Once we got there though, we needed to start to prep for her wedding. There were still lots of things to do! They went for an awesome theme: country chic. So it was so fun creating all the little details that went into their wedding. Here is my husband who was "quality control" when we were tying raffia on mason jars that people would use as cups. The black hearts are there for people to write their names on. Such a cute idea!

My husband doing quality control!

Day 2 - More wedding prep and rehearsal

The next day we spent visiting with family and doing more prep for the wedding. A lot of family and friends went out to the wedding site to help with setting up. Here is a picture of my husband's uncle who was the wedding coordinator. He created an amazing handmade chandelier out of mason jars to hang over the new bride and groom while they eat their wedding dinner! And here's a picture of the boys getting hay bails to the right places for the drink stations.

Handmade Mason Jar Chandelier

Hay Bails for Drink Stations

After that, it was time to rehearse for the wedding! It was so fun to meet everyone who was in the wedding party. Here's a picture of most of the girls in the wedding party including the adorable flower girl. We had one bridesmaid that was MIA for this picture.

Bridal Party

Bridesmaids Gifts - Adorable Heart Flower Necklaces

One super fun thing that we got to do as bridesmaids was create our own bouquets! My husband's uncle picked out some amazing flowers, set them all out for us and let us go crazy. It was a lot of fun and something I will always remember.

Getting Our Instructions

Waiting to Get Started!

Here We Go!

All the girls with their bouquets

Me with my creation

After that, we just had fun playing croquet and hanging out for the rest of the night! It was an awesome rehearsal. We also ended the day with making a drive up to the top of a very high mountain to gaze at the stars. It was the most clear I had ever seen the sky. Growing up in more developed areas, I'd never seen the sky like that. I got to see the Milky Way and a shooting star for the first time! It was a great way to end the day.

See the second part of my vacation journal here!