 Because of a connection Tiffany had, we were able to get a VIP tour of the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center. WOW! Was this place ever awesome!  Touring the Olympic Training Center with 4 time Olympian Luger, Rubens Gonzalez, gave us a whole new perspective on how hard of work it takes to get here....  This place is simply fantastic. They have on staff chefs, physical therapists, psychologist, specialists and doctors that volunteer their time, as well as all the latest and greatest equipment, including a climate controlled room to make elevation higher and oxygen lower to test the body strength. A space chamber to run on the treadmill in during sprains and injuries, and SO MUCH MORE! We got to see the athletes hard at work..... There is also a training kitchen where chefs come in from Food Network to teach them new dishes. All recipe videos are found on the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center website. Did you know this is a campus where some of the athletes live and train? They have dorms with personal rooms and shared living rooms. They have to take allergy tests before they come in, and the caffeteria has a buffet based on the limitations of the athletes plus calorie counts of everything. They enjoy lawn activities, movie nights, and all the fun of a college campus, but work and training focused study. Super neat opportunity! Check out this slideshow: Did you know you can hire Ruben to come speak at your event about the where hard work and determination get you? His story is FANTASTIC! He learned in 2 years, what normally takes Lugers 10 years! Seriously awesome story! The Courage to Succeed website is linked below. Courage to Succeed   The kids had a BALL! We did too. :) What a privilege to get a VIP tour with an Olympian!  4 little Ferguson's Bobsled team! Haha :)  More fun to come from Colorado Springs....
Hugs, T
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After Rifle, we headed towards Colorado Springs. We had classes planned there, as well as meeting up with our good friends, the Ferchos. We drove as far as Loveland, and crashed there a few days, and did some classes and business training in Greely and Eaton.  We drove 45 minutes home from class, and found this note on our door:  Right away the kids were SUPER worried! Had Sophie barked all day? Where we in some kind of trouble? It was 10:30 pm at this point, but the kids all wanted to come see what was going on! Ty crawled to bed, but the rest headed out with us. Dale knew what was up, and I had only just found out on the way home from class.... Apparently, our friends, the Ferchos, who we were supposed to meet up with TOMORROW, came through same route on the way to our Colorado Springs destination, and snagged the last spot at the SAME rv park as us. This was their tricky way to get us over to their RV after we got back from class! The kids FLIPPED OUT! So cute. (no photos, I left my phone on the charger at the RV) The next morning, we all packed up, ready to head out. I love RV parks, we just meet the nicest people wherever we go! It always blows my mind when people recognize our rig from the doTERRA Leadership Magazine and come say hi. What a blessing to meet and encourage other oilers! :) These sweet ladies came to chat right before we left. SO fun!  We only had a couple hours to drive, so we had requests for all the kids to ride together the first hour, then switch to boys and girls the second hour. We got into some major traffic, but they did great. 
While in Colorado Springs, we planned on hanging out, doing classes, going to see Whit's End, Olympic Training Center, up into the mountains to see their cabin, and Garden of the Gods.....  If you are a 4 little Ferguson's blog reader, following us over to RV Oilers blog, you KNOW we are OBSESSED with Adventures in Odyssey CD's. We were before we hit the road, and we sure are now. What a great way to kill 2 plus hours, all the kids laying around, or coloring, while listening to a story on CD. Wait, it's not on a SCREEN? Nope. Good ol' fashioned story acted out on CD. You can hear the sound effects and use your imagination. It is VERY well done! We own 40 CD sets, out of 62, and they are still making them. Perfect Christmas and Birthday gifts if you ask me! :) You have to try for your kids, they learn SO much about the Bible, manners and how the Lords wants them to act, all while enjoying stories and funny characters. You better believe we were excited to visit the Focus on the Family Campus in Colorado Springs. They have a whole lower level that is a kid zone, with places to play and explore, rooms from the different adventures to visit, a place to play dress up and put on puppet shows, scavenger hunts, a 4 story slide and even a Whit's End Soda Shop!
Main floor was a movie theatre, a mini theatre teaching us about how they make AIO CD's, lots of info on the beautiful ministry and humble beginnings of Focus on the Family! Really fascinating!  You could take the "Imagination Station" elevator down to Witt's End, OR the staircase through the Butterfly Gallery. Avery tried out BOTH!f
Once downstairs, it was a WHOLE nother world! Slideshow:  The kids loved the 4 story slide! Especially the little ones. The big ones got their elbows and backs banged up a bit, and headed to do the Scavenger hunt instead.   We killed the whole afternoon there, and still weren't done. But alas, it was time to get back home to prepare for our oil class. We had one more VERY important stop to make: Whit's End Soda Shop to get a WodFamChocSod, short for World Famous Chocolate Soda, talked about in MANY an Adventure in Odyssey stories.   HELLO, beautiful!  We shared, but next time I am getting my OWN WodFamChocSod!!! Holy amazing. If you like Fudgscicles, this is the drink for you! They blend chocolate ice cream soda water, chocolate syrup and whipped cream on top. YUMMM!  Such a sweet ending to a sweet day! I love how the Lord's presence is so apparent in this place. We just relaxed and enjoyed while the kids played. I cannot wait to go back!
Be sure to check out the amazing bookstore too wow! We found some treasures....like $1 christian fiction books, lost episode discs of AIO and MORE. :) Lots more fun to come in Co Springs!!! Hugs, T Next, we headed to the Western Slope to stop in Rifle for an oil class and to meet our new friends, the Fitzkes! Heather is a new builder on our oil team, so we decided to come out here way. We love to connect and help our team GROW. :) Brent took the day off and the whole family joined us on a hike behind the falls. It was a gorgeous sunny day and we couldn't wait to see some waterfalls after SO many strike outs this summer. :)   
I cannot even tell you how LOUD it was up here! We were getting soaked from over spray too......pretty great!  We got to explore these caves too! Holy amazing! 
They had these great pathways that wound around behind the streams and falls with look outs.....  Hiking slide shows: The roots of these trees were FANTASTIC! And actually larger around then the tree trunk itself, wow!   I get some SERIOUS clausterphobia! So as we climbed up up up into this dark little tunnel to get into this big room, I was trying not to FLIP OUT! Totally worth it. No pics though, too dark.
 
 Then it was SWIMMING time....well, not swimming, but totally waded in the FREEZING water!  Swimming hole slideshow: Thanks for a great time, Fitzke family! Time to hit the road to COLORADO SPRINGS.... Hugs, T   AND THE WINNER IS.......comment 34   EMILY MILES, you are the winner of the $50 shopping spree!!! Thank you to Tara, for giving away this great shopping experience! I think everyone had so much fun shopping on your site and joining your FB page! :) Congrats to you, Emily! Please message Tara to arrange for your order! [email protected] The rest of you, LISTEN UP! Tara doesn't want you feeling left out, so she is offering......  This week only, do NOT DELAY!!!! Go snag those gorgeous items you picked out on her website.
What a fun giveaway, thanks to everyone who shared the post! Hugs, T I am so thankful for Dale, and the daddy he is to our children. What a blessing to see him interact and enjoy them on a daily basis! He is the best fishermen, rv driver, trail guide, and fun maker our kids could ever ask for!I love how he loves them, leads them with joy but firmness and continually points them to Jesus in all he says and does. ❤ I am so glad our children get to do life with him, all day everyday! That is the biggest, best, most valuable gift we could've asked for!!! 
 For Father's Day, we planned to head to Telluride, another cool local town, just a car ride away. They have a cool free Gondola ride that leads to a Mountain village with hiking, restaurants, and lodging. Pretty cool!  What we didn't know, was that we were joining an extra 12, 000 people already there for a GIANT music festival!!! Bluegrass, baby! We were able to get a parking pass and go into the town, but found it very hard to find parking spots. We finally snagged one on a little side street and walked down to the Gondola ride.
 I am no roller coaster lover, so take this with a grain of salt, but this was QUITE the ride. You totally zoomed in and out, and it tickled your tummy when you pitched downhill. And the BUMP that happens over every pole? I may have grabbed the leg of the kid next to me every stinking time. They thought it was hilarious! It was a pretty view once your tummy stopped jumping around, and we enjoyed lunch down in the mountain village before taking the ride back up.    We headed back to Montrose to grab some groceries and try out Dale's Father's Day gift: a Davy Crockett Pellet Grill!!!!!!!!!!  Inspiration hit while I was at the store, and with the help of some deli dough, ready to roll out and some leftover steak, we had a gourmet meal! What was it?! Drum roll please.......  TA DA!!!!!  Bistecca Pizza Al Forno AKA Grilled Steak & Arugula Pizza! Remember this recipe from the old blog? Still as good as I remembered! www.grainmillwagon.com/bistecca-pizza-al-forno/ You all this is a MUST MAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Super quick because we just had some shortcuts like already made dough from the deli and already grilled steaks to slice up.  After we ate our fill, we headed over to our RV parks free Putt Putt course. SUPER cute and lots of fun traps and unique holes!  I'd say it was a great day!
Tomorrow, we head out towards Silt and our essential oil classes in Rifle, Eaton and Greely. We have 2 classes in Colorado Springs too! Time to WORK, but thankfully it doesn't feel like work. Love empowering families to chose better! If you are close by, you should come. I am trying to advertise our classes more on our 4 little Traveling Fergusons/RV Oilers FB page!!! Hugs, T Montrose is kind of a small little place,but its close to lots of amazing places like Ouray & Telluride! We did take in the farmers market, did some antique shopping, and visited some local sites in Montrose too.
Not to mention the Russel Stover Factory in town, with a darling chocolate & Ice cream shop up front. You could get this delicious ice cream with pumps of hot, fresh, melted Russel S chocolate! We went TWICE. HOLY AMAZING! Holy calories, but I hiked it off. ;)   One of the highlights of this part of our trip, was when we went to Ouray, which is called the Little Switzerland of America. This tiny town is nestled between two big mountain ranges, and only gets sunshine from like 12 to 3 each day! They host neat activities all summer, like music in the park, and have darling window shopping opportunities, a natural springs pool and gorgeous park to run and play in!   We spent the evening in the park and met some cool locals that gave us some tips on what to come back and do the next day. Hiking Babybath falls & driving the Million Dollar Highway! 
Slideshow of Babybath falls:   There was supposedly a hike down to the lower falls and up to the awesome huge falls we could see up the rock face......
 The trail we took, went further and further from the direction of the falls. We decided to double back, because clearly we were getting no where fast!!!
We met a couple on the way up that kindly told us without backpack pouches of water and 3 hours, we shouldn't plan on the upper waterfall hike with our family. We sure appreciated that! We had already been hiking and playing around at the Babybath falls area, and didn't have the water to make it through that many more hours. Kids didn't mind, and were asking for a rest, so we decided to head on over to the Million Dollar highway for a scenic drive before going home.  The Million Dollar Hwy is full of switch backs, loop de loops, scary curves with sheer drops offs to the valley below, and is not for the faint of heart. Windows down, water bottles being passed around along with snacks, we just kicked back and enjoyed the views. We had a ball! :) Slideshow of MDH:   Wow, what a stunning place!!! We had a ball here in the mountains.
Tomorrow is Father's Day, and we are planning a day trip to Telluride, I'll share that tomorrow.... Hugs, T We left sunny Cali and headed through Nevada and Utah, in like 2 days. We made some serious tracks and saw some amazing sites!   We stopped for a lunch break at the beach????  This place is called the Bonneville Salt Flats, and it's the craziest thing! This is no beach, its all SALT! So crazy! This is where the current world land speed record was set back in 1997.   Long hot drive day, followed by us stopping in a tiny town in Nevada for the night, replaced a trailer tire (still under warranty thank goodness) and got some dinner at an outside pizza joint, and took a walk around the RV park before bed.    The next day we headed through Utah. These back to back travel days can get long, but the kids always get creative and have fun together, especially on these curvy mountain roads!!!! We call this "Couch Chicken". You have to try to balance without falling off the edge for as long as possible. When one falls off, the sibling sitting near by gets a turn to go head to head with the champion.
 We had to stop for an oil change, which is always at least a 2 hour process. I passed time by making Sophie some new bandanas for summer!   Pretty girl!  We were in the middle of nowhere and the sun was setting, so we found a rest area and got some shut eye.   We pulled into Montrose, CO and got an early check in the next morning. Montrose was close to all the different towns we wanted to go see and hike in. This are of Colorado is absolutely stunning and my favorite part so far! More to come on this beautiful area.... Hugs, T  
Needless to have, I have had to cut down A LOT on clothing! I get one fourth of our RV closet, so I focus on leggings that all match the same long sleeve, short sleeve and tank tops for Florida winters, then cotton dresses, shorts and tanks for summer. And, 5 pairs of Converse, flip flops, and 3 pairs of ankle booties/boots. Come on now, priorities! ;)  I am always looking for ways to simplify my closet, but still have beautiful, quality pieces, so you can imagine how blessed I was to have Tara Eveland, long time blogging friend, approach me about trying a capsule wardrobe to review for Agnes & Dora.  I looked up Anges & Dora and was impressed to learn they are USA made, leggings will be soon. Love that much much better then the made in China factory leggings! Keeping jobs in the good ol' US of A!!!! They also get excellent ratings with the BBB.  MISSION STATEMENT: Redefining success and beauty through embracing personal power "Personal power is accessed when we become accountable for our lives in positive and healthy ways. It comes from feeling in control of our life and knowing that we are capable of making decisions for our good. When we are in our personal power, we act in a non-judgmental way, and come from a place of peace. We are in Harmony with ourselves and others. We know truth, and can receive inspiration. We are Authentic and Confident but not overbearing or dominating. We are open-minded with a sense of Wonder. We allow Courage to guide us through our learning and growth. We embrace Quality in our relationships. We love ourselves. We are Powerful." ~Buffy Bandley, founder of Agnes & Dora After I freaked out that my package arrived, it was like mail Christmas, I gasped at the cute packing she gave us. How darling!!!!!   The first thing I noticed was how nice the material of these pieces was. Soft and stretchy! The first thing the girls noticed, was the SUCKERS!  The pieces were wrinkled from shipping, and I was shocked how simple it was to let the wrinkles hang on hangers overnight. Just a light mist of water, and not a wrinkle left in sight! This is going to be great! (I do not keep an iron in the RV and am not about to start. I hang things direct from the washer and hope for the best!!!!) This is one of the special things about Agnes & Dora. The majority of their pieces, are made out of a high quality rayon, called Modal. It's from Beech trees and is very strong, bio sustainable and environmentally friendly. It's also designed to be PILE free, no runs or little balls all over your clothes! You can also go straight from washer to dryer if you'd like! Now, all these pieces I am showing you, are designed to mix and match. I didn't take pics of ALL the combos for you. Just know as you look through this post at the different pieces, that the skies the limit! The idea behind a capsule wardrobe, which Tara will help you design if you'd like, is being able to take the same basic pieces, mix and match them to the point of SO many cool looks and combos, all while keeping a base small wardrobe. Simplicity is SO freeing!
First up, the I Got You Babe Floral Blush & Gold pencil skirt ($28) and French Blue Rib Hi-Lo 3/4th sleeve tunic top! ($30) I have tried on a skirt identical to this from another popular pop up clothing company, and didn't buy because it was $44!!!! (For a skirt? yikes!) This Agnes and Dora one will only set you back $28, for the exact same thing! Score! I love how many different ways you can wear this.....  This last one was probably my fav way to wear these pieces. This hi-lo tunic top has enough material that you can knot it in the back.  You could wear it with knot showing, or simply flip it up inside and it stayed beautifully. I love the 3/4 sleeves as well, great for multiple seasons because of how light weight it is. Did you know the modal fabric also naturally wicks away sweat and moisture, keeping you dry and cool all season long? Not all pieces are modal, but a lot are, it's kind of A&D's signature fabric. Amazing!  Next up, leggings! Soft like butter, and she even sent 2 pairs for the girls! Mommy & Me, eeek! So cute! I ADORE that there are sizing options, S/M, M/L and XL. (Kids sizing too, by age) It's a better fit for me than one size fits all style leggings) We are all wearing our own tops in the following group photos, but A&D has CUTE kids tunic tops that I am looking at for future wearing...
These leggings are called "I'm A Be-Leaf-Er" and costs $22 for adult, and $18 for the kids, and is one of MANY prints in the Mommy and Me options.  Check out this the gorgeous stretchy tunic top Tara sent me to go with these same leggings. See how it changes the WHOLE look? It's called the Swing Tunic, and it's their number ONE best seller. I CAN SEE WHY!!! I want them ALL!!!! :) A lot of people size up, and wear it as a dress. Cool! This brand is true to size for sure! I am wearing medium (8 -10) tops in all these photos. S/M leggings and M pencil skirt. (I am 5 foot 3 and 135 pounds if that helps you.)  I wish you could feel the material, wow. So silky, soft and nice! This cream shirt could also go with the skirt we talked about above, and then the baby blue 3/4 sleeve shirt could go with these colorful leaf print leggings, too. SEE?! So many good options and combos! I am impressed! My favorite part, besides how luxuriously soft this shirt is, is the POCKETS!!!! How FUN! :)  I am also thankful for these beautiful basic tops to go with leggings I already own. This next pair has never had a top that matched them!!!! Agnes & Dora for the win. Plus, Dale loves me in white/cream. Oo la la ! ;) This one is for you, baby!  Last, but totally not least, the Tiered Tunic. This one is the Striped Ivory and Dark Mint one, and is $44. Goes perfect with my dark mint leather slip ons from Stitch Fix. Yay, for a fashion win! Tara said people also pattern match and wear it with the pencil skirt we talked about above with this striped top. Be bold! You can do it! This top is super soft, stretchy fabric, high quality, flattering, covering and super cute with jeans, leggings, pencil skirt, or whatever floats your boat! I am so in love with this one....  Now, for the BEST part! Sweet Tara is giving away $50 in A&D clothing of YOUR CHOICE to one blessed RV oilers reader!!!! YUP, you read that right, FIFTY DOLLARS to shop on her Agnes & Dora site! HOW TO ENTER TO WIN: 1) Head over here to Tara's shopping website and look around at the beautiful selection for every size and age. Come back and COMMENT on what you would like to WIN!!!!! 2) Go give her FB page a "like". *Both items must be done to win. We will select one lucky winner from the comments section on June 27th!*  HAPPY SHOPPING, I cannot wait to announce our WINNER! Hugs, T P.S. If you want an extra chance to win, share this post to your FB page and tell me you did a 2nd comment! Each comment (2) = ENTRY TO WIN
Well I'll tell ya, the LAST thing we thought we'd run into in California, was SNOW. But by golly, we DID!
So, we had every intention to move on further into California, but we learned something NEW this summer......
SOooooo, apparently, June is PEAK Rv season in Cali, and your odds are not good finding RV spots, let alone spots 75 feet long for a big rig with trailer. Sigh. We spent the better part of 2 days calling every single one we could find on the map. No go, so we just stayed in Red Bluff at the beautiful RV resort. We planned to swim, hike, grill out, and just make the best of it. We can trust the Lord's plan when things don't fall together as planned! We found out we were very close to the Klassen Volcanic National Park, where you could see 4 kinds of volcanos, explore bubbly sulfer pools and hike. Sounded like a nice educational experience, so we were set to go. It was almost 75*, but it could be cooler up in the mountains, so we grabbed sweatshirts and hit the road. 
It was such a great drive. I never tire of all the neat scenery we get to see!!!!
The higher we climbed, the more the temperature dropped. We were beginning to second guess our outfit choices!!!! The windows started getting cold, we all started putting on sweatshirts. (except Pax, who discovered he'd left his behind) The car thermometer showed 43*!!!!!
We curved and wound up through the mountain roads, and there it was..... SNOW! 
Naturally, we had to pull over and play in it.....
We were starting to get COLD! So it was time to head back to the warm car. But first, a stop at a little waterfall, formed from the melting snow.
We passed through the most beautiful valley area on the way home, we just had to get out and look around....
Our time in Cali is drawing to a close, so we ran into town to swimsuit shop and get the kids their FIRST In and Out Burgers! :) Fresh cut fries, never frozen meat patties and great prices. I got mine "Animal Style" which has sauteed onions and some great secret sauce on it.
It's been YEARS since I got myself some new swimsuits. It wasn't as painful as I feared. There are a lot of good choices here in California for covering, but still fun, 2 pieces!
I found 3 I liked, but settled on these two......
Bye bye California, time to move on. It sure was fun, even if we stayed in Red Bluff WAY longer than we planned! :)
Up next, Nevada! Hugs, T 
You know how your heart beats faster and your tummy flutters excitedly when you are preparing to leave for vacation?? That happens to us EVERYTIME we pack up the RV and start it up. Yup, 2 years later, we still get excited for the next adventure that awaits! There is no noise like a diesel RV starting up! :) We had a bit of a drive to California from Oregon, but not a bad travel day at all.  We pulled in just in time to watch the Cotton Candy sunset......  Durango RV park in Red Bluff, California is one of our favorite RV resorts. Super beautiful and awesome pool! We woke the next day to sunshine and birds singing. The weather was gorgeous! Sunny and hot, so we busted out the shorts for the first time in forever, headed into town for lunch.....  We read some reviews about an AMAZING local food truck with legit Mexican, so we ran through there for a quick lunch before we hit the grocery store, for some dollar tacos. WOW! We spent the better part of the next 3 days, playing at the pool! It was a nice one! And we found a cute watermelon floatie to hang out on...
 You know how STARVING everyone is after the pool? And you know how WIPED out you are as the Momma of the pool swimmers? Yup, so before we ever went down to the pool, we prepped the filling for lettuce wraps. I knew we would want a FAST SUPPER! We found some yummy inspiration for this easy meal on my 4 little Ferguson's blog and the ingredients from a local grocery store. Don't forget to head there for recipe ideas! There are TONS! https://4littlefergusons.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/oriental-lettuce-wraps/ We don't use Ramen anymore, for health reasons, but we did find an awesome natural asian noodle at the store! We boiled and drained, then tossed with lettuce wrap sauce, sesame oil and seeds, soy sauce and a bit of sriracha. Because I can cook with my doTERRA essential oils, I added ginger and lemongrass oil for a powerful fresh flavor! We tossed in chopped red peppers, green onions, carrot shreds and seasoned chicken. Serve in butter lettuce leaves, fill with noodle mixture and top with cucumbers and sweet & sour sauce.   We hung out on the picnic table playing Uno Dare RV park style and laughed our heads off, as we ran up and down the road squacking like a chicken, crying like a baby, or rolling in the grass James Bond style, making our own music, of course. We had some awesome local berries, so angel food cake and berries for dessert before going on our nightly family stroll (no bikes this trip because of trailer pick up) and then bedtime!
 We were bound and determined to find a waterfall, so we set out on a drive up into the mountains to find Dead Horse Falls.....we drove and drove. Our ears popped and we all got a bit car sick. Digestzen oil to the rescue!  We turned off on the old logging road and began to wind and BOUNCE our way back into the woods. On and on we went. I kept asking Dale if we were lost!? Haha, we weren't, but guess what? Since it was now an active logging road, the turn off to go see the falls, was LOCKED behind a GATE! What in the world?! Just let people still see the falls already! Nope, Turned all the way back, and headed home. Pulled off at a look out point on the way, but not the same. Sigh. Strike TWO on seeing falls. SOMEDAY we will see some waterfalls, right?! ;)   Next up, we are headed to Oroville, CA for an oil class and some hiking with some friends we met through the blog!
Hugs, T
I have met the COOLEST people because of the 4 little Ferguson's blog, and all those years of sharing my family with the world. I love how the Lord moves and blesses our obedience to Him!
Now that we are mobile, we are able to actually meet these blogging buddies: Meet Tiffany! 
I came to teach her how to use her oils, too! AND for my 4 kiddos, to meet her FIVE! :) They brought over burgers to grill at the RV park, and then we headed up to Hollow Falls for a hike. YAY! We have been wanting to see falls! 3rd time is the charm?
We started on some flat lands that reminded me of Kansas, but then things got AMAZING! Wait until you see.....
The views got better and better as we walked. It was so peaceful and amazing!
Then, it was time to start hiking down, DOWN the side of this cliff....check it out!
OH MY WORD! Be careful!!!!!
When we got to the falls, we found they were all but dried up! 3rd attempt at seeing waterfalls....DENIED! Hahaha, now its getting funny.
Despite no falls, the hiking down, and sound of the trickling water, the kids playing and frog catching with their friends, still made it one of the best hikes we have ever done. SO SUPER COOL! 
Hollow Falls from Tonya Ferguson on Vimeo.
Here is a slide show of the bottom of the falls area:
We wanted to hike back out before dark, so we rallied the troops and started heading back up. There is a 7 mile hike to BIG falls that I wanted to do so so bad, but it was super smart we didn't try so late in the day. That will have to be for next time!
Just when I thought it couldn't get any prettier...it did. Place like this just make you feel closer to the Lord!
Thanks for a GREAT time, Tiffany and family! See you next time....
Hugs, T 
Before we went to Montana 2 summers ago, I thought Oregon was going to be our number one most beautiful place we had ever been. Visiting again this summer, has reminded me WHY. Wow. The breathtaking sights never end!  The day after the wedding, all the family that was in town, hung out at Uncle Don and Aunt Viv's place. My cousins, Joel and Julie, drove an hour to us, and brought all kinds of amazing things for everyone to eat. WOW!
 The Master Chefs prepared for us, fruit and veggie platters, and 3 dips to snack on before supper. Then for dinner, they made the following: BBQ grilled chicken, pork loin with blackberry jalapeno sauce, fresh caught smoke salmon, artichoke rice, broccoli salad and baked beans. For dessert there was delicious leftover wedding (carrot) cake, 3 kinds of berry pie with ice cream and a trifle. YUMMO, right?! So thoughtful of them to feed everyone still around from the wedding. Thanks J&J! Love you guys! The next day, before everyone returned back to work, we planned to spend Memorial Day exploring the area waterfalls!  We'd met up at the falls, unpack wedding leftovers for a picnic lunch hike the trails to go see the falls. Sounded simple enough, right?! WRONG> holy full park, batman! The whole park was PACKED!!!! Sooo, not only did we end up eating lunch standing at a look out point, but we never actually found any parking spot in the lot, to go hike to the north OR the south falls. Okay then. We will try that again NEXT trip! Haha, the kids had a great attitude and we decided to do a drive around to see the covered bridges instead.
 The covered bridges were beautiful! I love old things, and all the stories and history behind them.   We also found a little treasure spot where the kids could hike down and play in the water a bit......  No waterfalls, but lots of fun with Uncle Don, Aunt Viv and Nana! :) Our time in Oregon has drawn to a close, next up, California! Hugs, T  It's wedding day, and there is a TON to do! We couldn't get into this gorgeous old building the ceremony and reception were taking place in until 9 am this morning. Time to bust it!   Each table had its own movie theme! SO COOL! Can you figure them all out? We got done with enough time to run home, eat lunch, spit shine everyone up for the wedding and rush back for family photos!  I got to wear Stitch Fix dress #3!!!! Love me some Stitch Fix dresses! :) Curious about Stitch Fix? Use the catagories on the side of this blog to go back and read about it.....
 Destiny helped at the guest table, and Paxton and Ty greeted. Avery worked the table seating assignment area.  It was a beautiful ceremony, short and sweet and full of love.... Then, a high tea. Scones, sandwiches, hot tea, fruit and veggie platters, all scattered round GORGEOUS hard back classics. I love how personalized this wedding is to this darling couple!  Rob and Brianna's table was the UP theme, so when they came back in as the new Mr & Mrs. they were carrying balloons. AHH! SO CUTE!  
They left to an array of colorful ribbon streamers, it was gorgeous! 
It was a beautiful ending to a beautiful day! Congrats to the happy couple!!!!! Hugs, T  Tis the season for weddings! First my step brother in Florida, then Dale's cousin in Kansas, and now my cousin, Brianna. So it's off to Oregon to celebrate! First thing we had to do, was head 4 hours the WRONG direction to go get the trailer we ordered months ago. There was apparently a mistake at the factory and our first of May pick up, got pushed back again and again. Finally, the awesome guy we were working, called the vice president and president of the manufacturing company to make it right. And they came through! We had a beautiful trailer by the weekend, just like they promised. The weekend we were to leave, but who's complaining!? ;) It's 9 feet tall, and shorter than our old "garage". The idea is to have attic space instead of floor space for the things we take along. If you read the RV Oilers home tour posts, you know we park our 6 passenger car in there, along with bikes, scooters, a doTERRA bin, swimsuits, coats, grill, mop, broom etc. Eeek, its so pretty!!!!  We got into some HORRIFIC spring weather on the way to Kansas City.....like 70 mph winds, tornado sirens going off behind us as we left town, baseball sized hail and more. At one point, I called Dale bawling from behind (remember, I had to follow until we got our new trailer). I literally could see NOTHING, but two little red dots of his tail lights. Terrifying! He slowed down and encouraged me to keep going, but the good Lord knew enough was enough....the RV windshield wipers quit working just outside of Hillsboro, so we pulled over under a gas station roof to work on them. Several hours and 4 fuses later, it was fixed. Dale was tripping wet, like he had stood in the shower fully clothed, poor guy. But, in the meantime, the worst of the storm blew over! Praise the Lord!  As we drove we got into more bad weather, but the Lord slid it all to the North of us, and gave us this little window to travel under, safely. Seriously! Look at this pic! To the north (left) was tornadoes and hail!!! 
Once we got the trailer, Dale was anxious to hit the road for Oregon. We had 4 LONG days planned to get there, 2 of those days being 14 hours of driving. He is such a trooper! Ok ok, we are troopers too. Its not easy entertaining 4 kids for that long, but they do GREAT! We keep daddy stocked with snacks and waters on travel days. The kids and I rotate between coloring, activity books, play dough, games, reading time, and the occasional movie, to pass the time. They also love to just look out the windows and see the beauty around us. Whenever we stop at the gas stations for fuel, we run hard and do jumping jacks and races.  Slideshow of travel days: Wyoming was absolutely stunning!   This must be the trip for extreme weather, because we got into some SNOW in Wyoming!!! Thankully it had fallen a few days before we got there and the roads were perfect. The kids FREAKED OUT! "Snow snow snow!! Can we play in it? Oh please oh please oh please?!?!?!?" Dale pulled over and let them quick go out in it.....it wasn't QUITE as fun as they remembered! ;) (Maybe, in part, because they already had jammies on and only had flip flops to wear!?!??!) Dale decided since we had made such good time, and the kids had done so well traveling, that we'd stop in Salt Lake City, Utah, and show them all the cool things we get to do and see at doTERRA's convention every September. We toured doTERRA's beautiful campus, saw them bottling oils, learned that each bottle is hand blown from Germany, that doTERRA ships 6 MILLION bottles of oils every month and so much more. We also got to introduce the kids to our Diamond account manager, Susan and treat them to our FAVORITE Indian food!    Back on the road to Oregon, what a nice break! :) Now we were getting into the BEAUTIFUL part of our Oregon road trip......   We arrived just in time to go get our FAVORITE Vietnamese food. We have been talking about this Noodle house for 2 summers now, anxious to come back. It was as good as we remembered!  I don't think you can tell from the photo, but this bowl is HUGE!!!!!! And so yummy. Its called Tom Ka Coconut noodle soup. Mmm mm good! And a bit spicy!  We are in the land of Tilamook, so of COURSE the best way to get rid of a spicy mouth is eating Tilamook ice cream. It was on big time sale, so naturally, we got 4 kinds, and took it over to Aunt Vivian's to share and have an ice cream party with everyone over their doing wedding prep.
 We helped do wedding signs and plant some succulents while we were there......this wedding was going to be just beautiful! I was excited to see it all come together! The kids even got to earn some extra money washing cars.....then it was off to Ulta for haircuts and rehearsal dinner Friday night. The next day it was time for the wedding rehearsal! We drove 45 minutes up into the mountains, to this gorgeous church camp. The dinner was in this open building right by the lake, stunning! And the weather was gorgeous!   Slide show! Check out the views! Excited for the big day tomorrow! :) Check out our view on the drive home....WOW!!!! Hugs, T  |
Tonya Ferguson
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