Popeye's Chicken

I am passionately in love with Popeye's Chicken. Spicy chicken with a biscuit & a side of beans and rice.

It was my last dinner before I went to China, the only food that didn't make me throw up when I was pregnant with Syd, & is also NOT located in Utah.

But as we were driving through Oregon I spotted one & stopped. Oh, it was just as good as I remember it.

Any other Popeye's fans out there?

Family Pictures by Kristal 2010

We just got family pictures taken by my brilliant sister-in-law Kristal (she took our pictures that I also loved from last year).

The fates were against us: it was getting dark fast, the kids were awful & restless. Not to mention I felt chubby & my hair was a mess. But somehow Kristal turned it all into a great shoot.

Check out her blog to see more of our pics & her lots of other lovely photo shoots.

My "Favorite Things list" on "Favorite Things blog"

When I was finally able to check my email after our trip I was ecstatic to find an email from "A Few of my Favorite Things" blog saying they were posting the list of my favorite things on their blog.

Though you guys already know my favorite things go check it out & take a look at the rest of their lovely blog.

3 Year Blog Anniversary Winners

Sorry guys! Blog-iversary fell right when I was leaving town. We just got back in last night & silly me thought I'd have time while we were traveling to pull a winner & post it.

"Best laid plans..." eh? But here we go! The winner of the "Liv's Simple Favorite Things" package is...

My bloggy friend Michelle of Einstein on the Beach!

And since I can't just giveaway one thing, EVER, I'm also going to send out 2 "mini, mini" packages to these guys...

My childhood family friend Erin & my hilarious cousin Ashley.

Winners- email me with addresses! And THANK YOU EVERYONE for sharing all your favorite things & for playing along with me!

First "First Day of School"

Today was Syd's first day of preschool. She's been crazy looking forward to it.

Syd has been wanting to go to school for as long as she knew what the word meant. So she was BEYOND excited to go. She loves her class & came home gushing about how much fun she had. She's always been so independent.

Rob & I had a MUCH harder time. We were a little lost without the dramatic part of our trio.

Rob got teary, which made me get teary. It was a tiny bit hard. To soften the blow & to celebrate our new "alone time" we had breakfast at McD's, played on the playplace basketball court, then went grocery shopping.

More Portland Fun

For anyone bored of our "travel log" of Portland, I won't blame you for skipping this post. But Scott's at home missing us & we miss him too, so we're updating him (& those who care) on what we've been up to.

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Yesterday, we had yummy icecream at a neat little restaurant not far from my dads house & wandered fun neighborhoods looking in pet shops & thrift stores.

And of course no trip Portland would be complete without a nice long browsing of Powells New & Used Bookstore. I had a huge pile but settled on 2 books, but darn, it was hard.

Then a quick trip on a streetcar to watch Portland passing by.

And then stopped at a splash park. We didn't bring suits so we let he kids get soaking wet in their underwear. So fun!

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Today we went to the ORIGINAL "Original Pancake House". It was a massive wait, the place was packed, but it was a fun, kitchy place to eat with YUM pancakes.

We then went to the lovely Tryon State Park& went a on a little hike.

Then we took a little walk around the Portland Oregon LDS Temple. It was gorgeous: the architecture, the gardens, & it was a peaceful end to the afternoon.

And to cap off the night we all had a blast painting a mural in grandpas garage.

Has anyone been to Portland? What did you guys see/love in the city? We'll be heading out soon so if there's a MUST see lemme know!

MockingJay

Last minute I talked my fabulous freshman year college roommate Lisa (who was SUCH a great partner & made me laugh till I thought I'd pee) to go Powell's Bookstore for the midnight release of Mockingjay.

The line was crazy long, but we were entertained by the very dressed up bookstore workers (dressed as crazy "capital" people- you understand if you've read the book) while they walked around handing out rope for tying knots, trivia, & buttons.

Once we got inside it was a sight to behold: A cornucopia spilling hundreds of copies of Mockingjay, tons of camping equipment set up, & even a couple dead bodies strew around (yes, it was disturbing).

And I am such a great wife, that I'm waiting on reading it until Scott & I can listen to it on our drive home from Cali this weekend. Has anyone out there started it yet? Eek! I'm excited!

BBQ & Fabric Depot

We're visiting my dad in Oregon & having a blast. A couple highlights so far:

BBQ & 'STEPPING OUT':
We enjoyed some outstanding BBQ of all different types of meats- some of the most amazing BBQ I've ever had. We also enjoyed one of my dad's favorite a local bands, Stepping Out. Syd was a HUGE fan.

FABRIC DEPOT:
I had my dad help me pick out the fabric for the kids Halloween costumes. The Fabric Depot out here is like "zanadoo". I could have spent a small fortune there & just check out this Olivia (the pig) fabric.