Goin' to the Chapel of Love!!

Last weekend we had a semi-family reunion in Portland when my cousin Rebeckah got married in the Portland Temple. If you've never been to that temple and you find yourself in the area, do yourself a favor and just walk around the grounds. It is gorgeous!! My cousins and I picked up right where we left off and that always includes lost of "making fun of Rachel." Oh, well. That's how they show me they love me...I hope.

The newlyweds, Rebeckah and Adam Orton. Aren't they cute? Boy, were Damon and I ever that young? Nope, we were younger...

We had a ball together and even had some grown up time as well. Burgandy, the daughter of my cousin Billy who is 14, who was very generous and patient, watched the little ones while myself, my cousins Daniel, Billy, and Joanna and our spouses went on a hike up to Punch Bowl Falls in the amazing Oregon forests.

These are our "Look Ma!" pictures as we laugh in the face of danger on the edge of the path going up to the falls. Pictured here are Billy and Rhonda, Joanna, Daniel and Heather, Me and Damon. Joanna's husband Steve is standing on the edge of the cliff taking the pictures. Way to take one for the team, Steve!

Here is myself, Daniel, his wife Heather, and Joanna on the opposite side of Punch Bowl Falls. The water is about the same temperature as a glass of ice water. We braved it across the knee deep water, loosing most of the feeling in our limbs about half way across. The smart ones stayed on the other side to take pictures.

Speaking of smart, this is what happens when guys get together and egg eachother on. One guy ends up doing something really crazy while the others look on laughing. Remember, this is ice cold water. I think Steve just wanted to make sure he ended up on my blog. Good thing he and his wife are done having kids...

I wish I could show you all of the fun things we did that weekend. Perhaps one of the most memorable activities was when half of our family (most of whom stayed together at Joanna's house) came down with something called the Norovirus on Saturday night. I later learned from a friend that Noro means "curse" in Japanese. No wonder! It is perhaps the most violent flu I've ever seen. Not to mention a real downer to the trip. It made its way through the family over the next week. We later found out that the PF Changs where we had the wedding lunch had been shut down the day after we ate there because there were so many complaints about people getting sick. It was serious enough that I ended up playing phone tag with the Washington County Department of Health for a couple of days. It was so contaigous that when we came home my mom and my best friend came down with it. Ah the guilt!!

However, it was a dynamite trip. Well worth the drive for sure and we definitely can't wait to do it again...without the crazy Japanese curse of course.