we flew out to portland late friday night (10pm) and got into pdx around 11pm pacific time. we got our rental car, which actually turned out to be kind-of a funny looking trasport van, and made our way to courtney, mark, ally, and riley's house. mark graciously greeted us at 12:30 saturday morning and showed us into their pop-up trailer. it was parked in their driveway and that's where we slept very comfortably.
saturday morning, we got up and went in to the house to have breakfast all together. w and riley jumped on the tramp. 
here w is showing off his front flip skills.
we then went yard saling. we picked up a few things at the yard sales. here i am taking a picture of a chicks and hens plant. we were surprised at all of the yucca and other succulents we saw. but especially yuccas--there were so many in oregon.
as we wound around portland, we came across a covered bridge.
we went to one green world--the nursery where we've ordered all of our pawpaws and our recent persimmon trees. this was b's one request for the day in portlandia--to visit the home of our pawpaws.
this man showed us where the pawpaws were. no one there seemed quite as excited for us to be there as we were to be there. but so it goes.
they had a lot of pawpaws still.
a beautifully detailed flower.
i liked this rainbow arrangement of plants.
strawberry season in oregon is already past (at least the height of it) if you can imagine.
we made our way back to the car to hit the next stop.
the goodwill! me and courtney in front of--what would turn out to be--a very good shopping experience.
we went out to lunch at a place called tarboush for lebanese food. it was really tasty.
the restaurant was inside a beautiful old home.
we ended up with a lot of food. the pita brad in the foreground was very tasty.
our next stop was the portland temple--where b and i got married almost exactly 15 years earlier.
as a special treat for us, it was raining.
the sun came out for awhile as we walked around the outside.
we went inside the temple to the atrium. this is the only temple i know of that has a cool indoor garden area where anyone can go into. i always liked the atrium a lot.
there were lots of beautiful flowers and plants--it was very tropical looking.
we re-created the picture of us coming out of the temple after our wedding.
after the temple, we went back to courtney and mark's house. here, you see the cool cookie jar courtney got at the goodwill (sitting on top of the batik fabric we brought for them).
and then! and then! courtney offered to give me her old knee-high black docs that she's had since high school. she got them out, i put them on, and the rest is history!
these are the exact boots i have wanted to the past, well, about 17 years. i will admit that i am a picky person when it comes to shoes. but i knew what perfection was--flat, black, tall, slim fitting boots. this was such an exciting turn of events for me! and after so many years, they are still in good shape. wah!
we spent some extra time together at the house. courtney got out these great, vintage miami vice posters. and riley very cutely stood behind it and positioned his hands/arms to add some much-needed 3-dimensionality to the image.
then some old hs pictures got brought out. this one b was very excited to see since he has always heard the rumors of my big head (this being the picture that started those rumors).
some of courtney's yard gnomes
and other decorations.
we left courtney's and drove down to salem. a friend of ours from home had recently got married, and she was having a reception in salem that very night.
we got to salem a little early, so we stopped at a little park area. b went for a walk.
lucky him! he got to see a banana slug.
it was a beautiful area. i like how this picture shows the height of the trees.
we got to the wedding reception site and were happily greeted by lots and lots of prickly pear cactuses.
the site of the reception was so idyllic. it was at a large home site with a pond, a stream, trees, etc, etc. it was the most perfect location i've ever seen for a party.
barb was very surprised to see us. we hadn't told her we'd be coming.
a tire swing, a stream to play in. it's the only reception i've been to where there were truly things for kids to do and not be bored.
i wore my new boots to the party.
we then drove down to eugene and stayed in a little motel near the u of o. we got up the next morning, had our little motel breakfast and hit the road again.
it was fun for me to drive this very familiar stretch of road--between eugene and nb. 
we drove around town a little bit and then went to airport heights to see my house.
this is the hubbard's home.
i'm probably saying something like, do you see how tall that tree is now?!
i was pleased to see that the house appeared in better condition than when i had seen it in 2009. i still miss all of the trees that used to be in it, and the grass was very dead. but it was good to see it not look so shabby.
i lived my whole childhood (birth to going to college) in this house. 
i also saw that they had leveled out the back and cleared away some of the blackberry bushes--so there is actually a back yard now.
the duplex just above my house.
we then drove up to the chapel. it was father's day, and b was more than happy to get some lindt chocolate balls.
church was really fun. i very much enjoyed seeing people i haven't seen in a long time. unfortunately, some of the people i had hoped to see weren't there. but i guess that's to be expected. and there are a lot of new families in the ward--a lot of people i didn't know. but, again, that's to be expected also since i haven't really gone to church there since 2000.
people asked about my mom, my brothers and sisters, and were just generally enthusiastic to see a leslie. it was neat to be in a place where people knew my parents and my entire family. and to look around the building and just remember so much. nearly every space in that building holds memories for me.
after church, we went over to jim and judy's house and hung out there.
they pulled out an old tv/vcr, and w watched some church videos.
it was neat to see how their house has changed. i spent a lot of time in their house when i was a kid, and it looked nothing like this.
and then we had a grilled salmon dinner (jim and judy were very gracious in letting me pick the dinner entree since it was father's day and judy's birthday dinner). it was delicious! i love (love, love, love, love) grilled salmon. what a treat it was!
and to make it even more fun, vic and nancy pettijohn came over for dinner too.
we sat around and talked for hours. one interesting thing that vic shared about my dad was that my dad used to draw little images of cars and then carry them around in his wallet. my grandma was an artist, and i always wondered why none of his kids ever got into art. but, little did i know that it seems like my dad did--to some degree. it would be neat to see one of his car sketches.
a close-up of the salmon. 
finally, bedtime rolled around. we got to stay with the moyers. b and i had a lovely view of the sunset from our bedroom window.
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