Kiss My Tulips

On Saturday Caleb and I went with Mark and Bridgette to the Tulip Festival in Woodburn, OR. Apparently the farm is owned by a family in our stake, they also run a fun Corn Maze during Halloween. I don't think any of us were expecting much, but we were all pleasantly surprised. It was a lot bigger than I had thought it would be, and the flowers were absolutely gorgeous. I loved looking at the different varieties and reading their names. Not that I can remember any, but it was fun. :) We took lots of pictures, some pretty (I even tried to get a bit artistic...) and some silly. As always, there were many people there with their dogs in tow - Oregon is a very dog friendly environment, I've seen people bringing their dogs into several nice stores at the mall. Most of them are larger, although there is the occasional tiny-dog-that-goes-perfect-with-every-outfit. Bridge and I weren't prepared to see some girl carrying her cat though. A cat?!? Cats don't like to be hauled around, especially not when it was as windy as it was. I'm surprised the girl didn't have claw marks all over her face from the cat desperately trying to free itself. Cats (and yes, I am generalizing here) like to be in charge. They make the decision of where they feel like going at any given moment. I highly doubt that kitty (from the look on it's face) was very pleased by the pretty tulips. Later on we went to the outlet mall, and then up to a VERY nice new mall in Tigard. It was heavenly! The Container Store, Crate and Barrel, Urban Outfitters, Design Within Reach (who we are now boycotting because of their horrible rudeness)...and lots of tiny expensive shops. My favorite was a toy store / baby supply store we went in. We found this...THING....that's stretchy and squishy that you can make do different things. I quickly realized it's potential and told Caleb to hold very still.....it's a classic picture. His face (in case you couldn't tell) exactly depicts: "Please take the picture - I am dying of embaressment" - which he was. I don't know what his problem was......we were all laughing. :) He was definitely a good sport. We finished the evening by discovering our new favorite Italian restaurant, Pastini Pastaria. It was absolutely amazing food. The ambiance was that of a much more expensive place, but everything was under $9. We all got something different, and were all equally impressed. My favorite part was that the food portions weren't huge - just enough to fill you up without making you feel stuffed. We also split a dessert and wow....divine. Now if we could just get them to open one in Albany........