A Walk Down Memory Lane

Today was a great day. Ben and I took the kids down to Salem to see the cherry blossoms at the State Capital and then to walk around our old college. We have so many memories in those places; we smiled from ear to ear the whole time. 

When Ben and I first started dating in our sophomore year of college, the capital was the place we would go to get away from it all. We'd spend hours walking around the grounds hand-in-hand. We'd go late at night, but it was always lit up and beautiful. We got our engagement pictures taken there under the cherry blossoms, which has always been my favorite bloom. It is just such a special place. 

Then, walking around Corban (used to be Western Baptist) again, pointing out things and telling stories to our kids, was just a blast. The boys had so many questions for us and it was wonderful to remember those times in our life: the years that we met and fell in love with each other. 

 We may not be as young, but we're still just as in love

Twelve years ago we were taking engagement pictures here!

We hit the blossoms in perfect bloom. They were spectacular. (Josh, Sam, Seth)

 Me and my boys...Josh with his "new" smile. (Seth, Sam)

Sam

Seth

And Josh (and that smile)

I love walking underneath them and smelling their scent

Pure beauty

There were tons of photographers out taking pictures, and much to Ben's dismay, I asked one for a family picture. They turned out pretty good!

We've got to work on those boys' photo smiles!

Joshy and his daddy

We weren't expecting there to be protesters on the steps and hoards of policemen milling around watching them, but oh well. Seth was really stressed by the protesters and was very worried that they were doing "something illegal." We just tried to downplay the whole thing, but even as we got home, he was still talking about it. It's hard to explain these complicated matters to your children!  

 There is some really awesome trees around the Capital. The boys are always up for a climb.

 We took the boys to Riverfront park to ride on the carousel.

It's a beautiful carousel and the boys loved it.

 There's that "picture smile again"

Our final stop was Corban. Ben and I had actually never seen the clock tower. There were many things changed about the campus, but many things just as we remembered them as well. We were impressed by how much they had cleaned up the appearance of a lot of the buildings and surprised that the foot bridge across the rode was gone. There were just so many delightful memories here.