Voodoo Doughnuts

Back in 2011 when Ryan & I were first married we lived in Portland for the summer while he did door-to-door pest control sales. I was still re-cooping from my melanoma surgery and didn't know anyone in the area, so I didn't get out to explore Portland as much as I had wanted to. One of the main places I've been wanting to hit for ages is Voodoo Doughnuts. 

As we packed up our stuff, said our goodbyes to family, we hit the road and Ryan asked if I wanted to hit up Voodoo? I waffled back and forth "well, no it's out of the way" or "I'm not very hungry right now"...but Ryan saw through the bologna and just started driving us towards the blessed pink building. 

We had our guy at the counter pick out the 6 best Voodoo doughnuts for us to try, and OH MY GOSH. AMAZING. My favorites were the bacon maple bar and voodoo guy with raspberry jelly inside. It was the perfect road trip food for the way home. Hooray for sugar comas!

We drove through the night, dropped Taylor & Nikole off in Logan, then continued home to Provo and pulled in at 6 in the morning on Sunday. YUCK. Suffice it to say we were dead asleep till almost 2pm and were hung-over from staying up all night and sleeping all day. The next day we dived back into the grind of school and now we are trying to finish the semester alive! Even though it was a long drive...I'm glad we chose to drive up to Portland and spend time with Ryan's family before another crazy year of school, graduation, and life :)

Rios Family Pictures

The day after Thanksgiving we all did some Black Friday shopping and took our first ever set of Rios family pictures! We went to Portrait Innovations, and our photographer was a weird duck for sure. He thought Ryan was the father of the family....say what? Maybe it's the mustache?? Then when we clarified and explained all the relations to which he replied {to cover his bum} "oh, we get a lot of 'different' kind of families in here." I guess that would make sense seeing as how we're in Portland! 

Left to Right

Back: Stuart, Ethan, Ryan, Taylor 

Front: Jenny, Suzy, Me, Nikole

The photographer then proceeded to keep on saying "after this we will take the funny awkward family pictures." Ummm, isn't that what we've been doing this whole time?! The picture above is case & point, Ryan was told to "hold my hand"...

{Remixed: Chambray Top // Pants}

It was super fun to mess around and take pictures together, and I'm super stoked to finally have some Rios pictures to add to my gallery wall!

Thanksgiving Day 2013

This Thanksgiving was the first holiday that I've ever spent away from my own immediate family...and I was a little worried that it wouldn't feel the same. We made the trek up to Portland to mix things up a bit and spend the holidays with Ryan's family, so I was already a little out of my comfort zone. My family has traditions for holidays; and for Thanksgiving that usually includes a deep fried turkey, stuffing with apples in it, and a movie we all see together as a family. What if the new traditions didn't feel like they could become my own?

Ryan & I got all gussied up for the Thanksgiving get-together and at this point I was still a little nervous as to how this holiday with the in-laws was going to turn out. We pulled up to the house and walked in to a kitchen chock-full of turkey, mashed potatoes, pies, and stuffing with apples in it. Score! So much hard work had been into this meal which made it feel pretty special, and it was also the first meal that everyone in the Rios family {including wives} had shared together {craziness}!

{Remixed: Necklace&Sweater // Boots // Dress}

To top off the day of over-stuffing ourselves, someone in the family overheard my family tradition and suggested that we go see a movie. I was ecstatic!! Plus it felt nice having some of my own traditions included in the holiday! We saw Frozen {which was adorable btw}, then grabbed hot chocolate from 7-11 on the way home {my fave hot chocolate} and then ate Marie Callender's Dutch Apple Pie. I shouldn't have been worried about what traditions would be had, because it was fun to spending time getting to know everyone in the family. Seriously couldn't get any better :)

Shopping Marathon

We pulled in to Portland around 8pm on Tuesday night, where I promptly konked out on the couch until Ryan woke me up to go to sleep in a bed. Wednesday my sister-in-law Nikole, Ryan's aunt Michelle, and I all had the most intense day of shopping. We seriously hit all the best stores and malls in the Portland area, it was awesome!! 

We started off the day with caramel apple spice drinks from Starbucks and some light shopping,  then Michelle brought us to the adorable Grand Central Baking for the most delicious sandwich. It was called the Sas-Squash: maple and sage roasted butternut squash, Fresanero mayo, cheddar cheese on Peasant bread and with a sausage patty. Are you drooling yet? I scarfed that thing down in no time! 

{Remixed: Pants // Booties}

We finished off our sandwiches on our way to Buffalo Exchange in Portland, and it was the weirdest dang thing ever {the store, that is}. I totally didn't fit in to the downtown hipster Portland-stereotype {plus there were scary people there that you get with being downtown} and the prices at Buffalo Exchange are ridiculous!! I was super stoked to go because I've heard so many good things, but was totally let down :/ Maybe I'll give the ones in So-Cal a try before I write off the store completely. After our adventure in Downtown Portland we headed back home where I again, totally konked out. Being sick on vacation really harshes my mellow! 

Pit Stop in Logan

This past Monday Ryan & I started our 14 hour trek from Provo to Portland for the Thanksgiving weekend to visit his family. Instead of doing the whole ride in one shot, we decided to stay with our friends Shane & Amelia for the night. Logan is about 2 hours north of Provo, a place where all of our Utah State friends reside.

Being the tried & true Aggie fans they are, Shmelia decided they needed to try and convince us that Aggie ice cream beats the BYU creamery...I'll consent and say that it is a pretty close tie ;) We had the Aggie Blue Mint ice cream, mint ice cream with cookie pieces and white chocolate chunks, which was deeeelish! 

Before our ice cream trip, we hit up the most amazing Indian food ever! Granted, this is probably only the 3rd time ever that I've had Indian food but I couldn't stop stuffing my face with the Butter Chicken curry and Garlic Naan bread. Therefore, now I'm a connoisseur of Indian cuisine ;) This place is attached to a random gas station in town, so of course it totally looks sketchy! But it's one of those special hole-in-the-wall places that only the locals even know about, so I felt pretty cool pretending to be a Logan-ite for the evening. After a fun night of amazing food & card games, Tuesday morning we picked up Ryan's brother and his wife and started our road trip up to Portland!