Our Surprise Trip To Oregon!!

Jas and Me on a ship wreckage in Astoria, Oregon

My parents are the cutest! This is their Oregon Coast look, which is my favorite one:)

Jason and his favorite little one. This is Kennedy, Jenny's darling little girl!!

Surprises Are The Best!!

For the last month every time I had a chance to talk to my darling mother she would excitedly tell me all about the plans for the annual Andersen family vacation. Our trip to the Oregon Coast this year had been planned since December. The excitement and anticipation was wonderful to hear about. The only problem was that the trip was going to include the entire family, all 18 of them, except for Jason and I.:( But Alaska is a long way away from everywhere and so expensive to leave. You can imagine how sad I was to be stuck on an island so far away knowing I was missing out on so many wonderful memories. My fabulous and sweet and thoughtful husband wasn't about to let me be sad for long. He quickly got on the web and searched for flights and the excitement began. On May 30th the Andersen's left Utah. Their first destination was Pasco Washington where they spent time with Grandma and Grandad Andersen and 60 something cousins! Unfortunately we missed out on that party. But on June 3rd Jason and I caught a plane to Seattle. We then rented a car and drove, undercover, to Netarts Bay. All the while talking on the phone with my mom as she described the fresh crab they caught and had just finished eating. Little did anyone know that we were now typing the address in our GPS. Ten minutes later we snuck down the small path to our favorite tide pools. We didn't say a word, just walked out onto the beach holding hands. It only took a second to hear Jenny scream "ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!" Then all eyes turned and we heard screaming from every direction, followed by loud sobbing. And you know I was involved in the tears. Everyone was so surprised, all of our hard work and little white lies had payed off. It was heaven on earth to be united with our family again, if only for a few days! What a wonderful blessing families are! I love and miss them all dearly, but I would have payed a million dollars for the memories we made with our fun little surprise:)