Food Carts and Ocean Breezes

We were so excited to get back to Portland...it's easily one of our favorite cities in the country. It's full of delicious food and delicious people. My sister, Laura, flew out from Minneapolis to spend 4 days with us and it was wonderful to see her.
Bella and Lucy ADORE her. She brings them presents and makes them laugh :)

We experienced our first Stumptown coffee.

And I have to say it was total bliss. I now understand all the hype. :)

We spent time with some of our favorite friends at the Saturday market and around town. Read more about our adventures here.
You can't stop in Portland without checking out Voo Doo Doughnut. Or so we were told :) This here is the vegan "Grape Ape". It was rather tasty.

This thrift store rocks. Wish we had more time to check out all the rest!

One of our favorite things in Portland...the food carts!! Oh the food carts. This one is called Ruby Dragon and they had vegan Thai food...and raw kale salad...and other such wonderful things. Don't you love those birdie flags? I know. Every one of the carts was so adorable. I wanted to live in them.Want to read more? Here are a couple of links to check out: Portland Magazine and Sunset
We headed to Cannon Beach and enjoyed a day without rain...exploring the ocean and also taking a little day trip down to Manzanita. We stopped at several little shops, but my favorite was Unfurl.
So many amazing textures, colors, clothes, shoes, scarves, yummy.

I hooped on the beach...and tried not to blow away.

Sweet family time.

Laura's friend Sarah came to visit as well. Sarah lived in Minneapolis, but recently moved to Oregon for her work. She's such a sweetheart and it was great to connect again.

It was hard to say goodbye! We loved our time in Portland and loved seeing Laura. What a blessing. Can't wait to go back again someday.

Photos from our time in Portland here.
All photos available for comment on Flickr here.

Traveling Community

One of the very BEST things about being on the road is the amazing people we meet. We've been so blessed to come into new friendships in every city we've been in...and our hearts are so full! We are often asked if we get lonely for community and friends while on the road. While there are definitely times that we miss family and old friends who truly know everything about us, the cool thing is that at any point in time...anywhere in the country, we can be surrounded by people we love.

This has come from being traveling for almost 4 years now and building up those relationships that have formed along the way (yay for Facebook and email!). Here are some of the people who we have created memories with lately:

The Loecken Family is on their own tour...Passion To Action. They are friends of friends and we tried to connect with them in Minnesota but it didn't work out. We were bummed. One morning in Golden, we woke up and found their RV parked a few spots away from ours! Neither one of us knew that the other would be there! We had a BLAST getting to know them better over 2 weeks. They are a dynamic, wonderful family...with their eyes firmly on Jesus.

Sharing a meal with the Loeckens.

Evening worship with Ben and Matt.

Lynne from "Family of Movers" contacted me while we were in Golden and we got together for a playdate. The girls had a great time playing together and the mamas did too. Shortly after, she and her husband decided to hit the road as well! You can see their blog here.

While we were near Boulder, CO, we held a potluck for all the blog readers in that area. We had a BLAST meeting everyone and we wished it could have gone on longer! Some of you might recognize some faces in these photos...Suzy from Hip Mountain Mama brought her family, as did Lisa from Visionary Mom. Plus lots of new friends as well! So, so fun.

Everybody loves a campfire!

Mamas in the house.

Bella found friends too!

Within one day of arriving in Golden, Bella was invited to a birthday party for a little girl she met in the park! After the party, we continued hanging out with Hillary and Aliza and look forward to seeing them again when we return someday.

 We spent several days and nights with the YWAM crew in Salem. Love it there. Gorgeous surroundings and beautiful souls. The community of people there made us not want to leave :)

Last but not least, I have to mention an inspiring guy we met while in Texas...Mr. Mike Hedge! Mike heard about us through our mutual friend, Tiffani, and he just happened to be traveling through Texas the same time we were there. He stopped by Hill Shade for a half day of fun and took some jump shots for his book. We've been inspired ever since and have been doing jump shots of our own. Thanks Mike!

So, as you can see...there is no shortage of community on the road! I have a lot more "friend fun" to share...but I'll be doing separate posts on my sister's visit and our time in northern California.

Playing Catch Up

Wow. It's been a whirlwind couple of months. Here is a super fast recap of what we've been up to. :)

We've been driving a lot.

We broke down in Spokane.

It took a week to fix, so we played in Spokane while we waited.

...and Coeur d' Alene.

My sister flew into Portland and we played. Her friend Sarah joined in the fun.

We went to Cannon Beach and saw the ocean.

We had our first Stumptown coffee. Yum.

We stayed at the Salem, OR YWAM base with our dear friends and we didn't want to leave.

But we did. We went to Eugene and had our windshield replaced.

We ate yummy food in Eugene and went to the Saturday Market.

We acted silly and took pictures of ourselves.

We surprised our friends in California.

I drank coffee and sat by the ocean in Santa Cruz with two of my favorite friends.

I went to Hoopcamp while Daddy took care of the girls.

And now...we're back with the Thiedes for another week or so before heading south again.

If you want to see the "big picture"...I've uploaded all of my most recent iPhone photos here. Enjoy!