The Bryan Family Sampler: Washington Days 1 & 2

The Tuesday after our boys got home, we left on our family vacation to Washington State.

Day 1 we drove all day up to the Columbia River Gorge and stayed in a cute little bungalow.

The night before, we had been contacted by our new stake president and asked to meet with Andy, me and Matt as soon as possible. His family and ours were both going to the Scarlet Pimpernel (in which my nephew Dallin was starring) So, after the show we congratulated Dallin and then raced to our stake center to meet with Pres. Skinner. It was almost 11 p.m. It was my first time meeting him. He was so gentle and kind. Andy and I knew what this meeting meant. We knew that because of some past mental health issues, it was a possibility for Matt to be called to a service mission. President Skinner explained that Pres. Farnsworth and our bishop had both recommended him for a teaching mission and that when he had been contacted by the mission department, he had also recommended him for a teaching mission. However, he was still being called to a service mission.

I didn't know how Matt would take the news but I was so relieved when asked if he would accept the call, Matt responded in the affirmative. President Skinner said he would receive the official call via email very soon. We had a sweet experience that evening and then had to hurry home and pack so we could get on the road the next morning.

So, fast forward back to THIS morning in our little bungalow. I asked Matt if he had checked his email and he said very casually, "Yeah, it came yesterday." What?!?! I suggested we stop somewhere cool along our route that day and he could read it to us. He said no, he wanted to wait until we got home and read it to his friends (I was hoping we could avoid that tradition).

Well, I talked him into reading it to us and then he could still do the friend thing at home.

Andy and Matt had to get in a couple of horse shoe throws before we were on our way.

So then we started driving and after a couple of minutes Matt all of a sudden starts reading his call from the back seat. I tried to get him to wait but he insisted on reading it right then. So these are my pictures of Matt's mission call reading...(come to find out, that was the main reason he didn't want to wait and get out somewhere to read it...he wanted to avoid pictures)

We had a good discussion about it as we drove to the Bonneville Fish Hatchery. The kids had some vague memories of it from years ago when we visited before.

While the bigger kids and I went to the gift shop, Andy took Ben to see some fish...

We stopped at Wahkeena Falls (just past Multnomah which we had seen last time and is always crazy busy) and Abby and I hiked up...Andy parked and followed close behind.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

We thought this sign was kind of funny...

As we got close to our destination we stopped at the Quinault rainforest to see the World's largest Sitka Spruce. We decided to have Ben walk the short trail. He was excited to get out and move his legs!

We met some very nice people at the spruce.

They sure liked Ben :)

Once we found the drive to our cabin, we were floored by how beautiful it all was!

We seriously couldn't believe how amazing the property...and then the cabin itself were!

Abby had hopped out of the car to open the gate for us and then ran ahead. When we caught up to her and got out of the car she said, "Can we come back here every year?"

After settling in I was able to go exploring a little bit...

It was stunning and magical!

The boys found the foosball table in the garage. There were several games played over the next several days...many of which I participated in :) I'm a foosballer from way back and Matt likes to challenge my skills when given the opportunity.