Evans Family Reunion 2017

We missed the last three annual Evans Family Reunions (because, Germany) so we were excited they pushed this year's back a few weeks so we could attend! We rotate by family who is in charge of the planning and this year Bethany and Kamron were up to bat.

We left early Saturday morning and headed south, passing through the beautiful Washington State capitol: Olympia.

Hello Oregon!

We made a pit stop at Collage to ogle at the washi wall and then met up with Tom and Margi at Arby's. My first roast beef sandwich in four years and it was just as good as before :) Then we drove a few more miles to the Enchanted Forest in Salem. Fox and Jane got to meet their cousins Evelynd and Ethan practically for the first time! (They've all met before, but they were all too young to remember).

We went to the Enchanted Forest for the reunion in 2012 when Fox was 2.5 and Jane was only 2 weeks old.

Chris took one for the team and road with all the kids on the Frog Hopper.

Bumper boats. 

Back in Bavaria?! I wish :)

And then Jane was D.O.N.E. She just laid down and gave up on life.

As we were pulling up into our hotel we passed a mini mall and I silently hoped there would be a local scrapbook store like there used to be in every strip mall! I was so surprised to see "Scrapbook Fever" on the sign! My wish came true! 

Alas, it's been out of business since 2012 or so when the economy took a turn for the worse and pretty much all LSSs closed, including my precious Yesterdays. Anyway! After I posted this sign on insta-stories I found out SO MANY OTHER scrappers live in the Portland/Salem area! How fun! All ya'll should get together and invite me and we'll scrap all the livelong day!

Before church we drove to an art gallery where Bethany's husband has some art on display. I LOVE the texture created on this painting by the layers and layers of brush strokes.

Here are Kamron's paintings.

Except, it's not traditional paint. He does a technique I've never heard of before and it's fascinating! He sprays countless layers of spray paint and then uses, I want to say a toothpick but I don't think that's right..., to swish the paint around and draw images into the layers of paint before they dry. Cool right?!

Jennifer Evans lives in Salem! We couldn't pass up the chance to hang out so she and her twin picked me up at the hotel and we headed to Craft Warehouse to do some shoppin'!

I got a few things and then had fun perusing all the aisles of craft and scrap supplies with friends!

The next morning we all met at Bethany's condo and then headed even further south.  We stopped for lunch at a drive in diner off the side of the freeway that I probably never would have looked twice at but Tom says it's good, and he was right! American food at its finest. Livin' the life. Then we went to the Wildlife Safari. Jane is OBSESSED with flamingos so she was pretty dern happy.

See what I mean? :) We drove around in our car and saw lots of animals like these cute bears. We also saw giraffes, tigers, cheetahs, llamas, and lots more beasties.

In the gift shop I snapped a photo of these cute shelves! Adorable!

On the way down to Ashland I started the stitching project I brought along. I spent about 8 hours on it so far and am only 2/3 finished! I'll share the layout here when I'm done!

We met up with the Andy/Cami clan at the rental home and the party officially started!

The views from the home were immaculate.

All of the PNW was going through a three week heat wave. Luckily you can't feel heat through photos and the house had blessed AC! So rare here.

Oh the natural beauty of the earth.

Spectacular sunsets every night.

We took family photos on Tuesday morning (remind me to photoshop Kamron into the pic at the top!) and then went to a local lake to cool off. I'll end with a typical grandkids shot, always a good time, lol!

Another Evans Family Reunion in the books! I'm already looking forward to next year!