The Last Weeks of July

It's been a fun last couple weeks.  We went to visit Don and Jill in Dodgeville at their new home, had Janna and family over for an afternoon, went to a Marron 5 concert with Morgan, and had my 20th class reunion!

Look at that yard!  They are kind of out in the middle of nowhere, but it is beautiful.

Baby Kashton.  So cute and such a good little boy.

Adelia with Morgan and Brooke performing their synchronized swimming.   Strike a pose.

Kash chillin' in the pool with Gretta in the background

I never thought Adam Levine was that good-looking...I have changed my mind.  Holy hotness!

Starting to harvest the garden - so fun.

Who knew protecting your ears from swimmers ear could be so cute?!

Todd Kintop and Becky Tomasello!

Judy Bundy and Mandy Nelson with Chris Allen in the background

Jill Gordon and Lisa Gedney

Jessie Wachendorf and Mike Hultman

Becky Kuhtz

Tiffany Meridith and Don Hagenbart

Mom and Morgan's visit!

I finally have time to put together the photos from Mom and Morgan's visit! So many fun times and great photos - its hard to decide which ones to post. I know that I had such a great time - I don't know the last time I laughed as hard as I did when I was with these guys. It was much needed (for me) fun girlie time.

First morning! We took it easy in the morning since the travelers got in late.



After a leisurely breafast at home, we headed to downtown to see some Portland sights. We parked in China town - here are Mom and Morgan at the main entrance.



We walked from there to VooDoo doughnuts, a Portland landmark. The line was long, but the wait was fun as there are lots of people around, and the funky inside (and doughnuts!) are worth it.

Morgan and her voodoo doll anarchist doughnut. There is a voodoo spear in its heart that is a pretzel. : )

Mom and I had a cup of coffee and we all ate our doughnuts in the shade outside - it was a nice sunny morning. We then headed to the Pearl District to check out Powells and some other fun stops in that area.

After the downtown sightseeing, we went home to eat a bite, grabbed Carmen and headed to Sauvie Island outside of town for some berry picking and to exhaust Carmen in the water. We picked A LOT of raspberries, it was a gorgeous afternoon.

We picked up some steaks on the way home, and hung out until Ashley got home from the softball game and we threw the steaks on the grill. Ashley and Morgan being goofy for the camera here : )

Hanging out after dinner.  Ashley and Morgan played lots of Fruit Ninja on the ipad. : )

After Morgan went to bad (we're not saying what time that was at....) Mom and I got to preserving our haul for the day. My kitchen has fruit flies and we didn't want the raspberries to get too attacked by them, so we got to canning and freezing. We made a batch of raspberry lavendar jelly and raspbarry rhubarb strawberry jam.

Facetiming the next morning. I want an ipad just so I can say hi to you guys on the weekends. Maybe if I promise to play Ashley at Fruit Ninja whenever he wants, then he'll let me get one!

We headed to the coast for a hike to the beach. The weather in Portland was beautiful, but as soon as we hit the water, we were greeted by fog. Ack. It was still a pretty hike. The hike was 1.8 miles down to the water. Mom was a total champ and did it faster than I would on my own. Ashley and Morgan pretty much sprinted back up the cliff. I think Ashley was happy to  have someone to play with!

Slugs on the trail

Carmen and Morgan playing on the beach

Surfer heading out to the waves.

We headed back to Portland for dinner out.

The next morning was a bit rainy and we were tired from the hike the day before, so we stayed in and made candles.

When it cleared up mid day, we went down to the waterfront, wandered around the Saturday Market, and rented a surrey bike to tool around in.

Goofy Mom and Morgan outside that night.

On Monday, our final full day, we headed out the Columbia River Gorge for the views. We stopped and poked around some waterfalls before heading to Hood River for lunch and some poking around shops.

Mom and Morgan at Multnomah Falls

Dinner the final night! We made Heather's broccoli cheese braid. Here is Morgan making us dinner with Carmen supervising closely : )

The travelers didn't leave until mid day Tuesday, so we walked to one of our favorite restaurants for our final breakfast (and I think the only breakfast that didn't include raspberries from our picking adventure). Here's Morgan and her Swedish pancakes.

It was so hard to say goodbye. We couldn't have asked for better guests - THANK YOU for making the trip! Can't wait to see you again soon. Miss you tons! XO

Holiday week (belated)

Sounds like everyone had a nice Fourth of July! Ours was low key, but we did a few fun things and made progress on some house things we wanted to accomplish before Mom and Morgan arrived.

It started on Saturday night with a big birthday dinner for Ashley's friend Bryce at a nearby German restaurant with a big group. Big beers were drunk.

Wednesday, on the 4th, we both worked a little in a.m., painted window trim, yard work (surprise!), and went to a bbq at Bryce and Heather’s, whose place had a great view of all the local fireworks.

Compost was delivered to spread on the entire yard. This was one of two loads.

Happy herb garden next to the driveway (that the neighbors hate).

Painting trim. I was freaked out early on but eventually got high enough to paint above the window.

Thursday we both were back to work after the mid week break. Thursday night, the weather was just perfect. Ashley kept working on spreading the mulch while I walked a few blocks to a new nearby ice cream cart with our neighbors Scott and Sarah. I'm so taking Mom and Morgan to this place - really yummy funky flavors! I had pear and balsamic.

Friday I worked from home and soaked up the sun outside. At night we made our way to a cute out of the way neighborhood for Ashley to make a bid on a job. As long as we were there, we grabbed a bite at a new restaurant outside.

Saturday was awesome - I had an acupuncture appt, and then cashed in on a gift certificate for a pedicure that was a present from Ashley. Worked in the garden, and at night we took a really pretty drive west of Portland to the St. Paul rodeo - a small town rodeo about 1/2 an hour outside of town. We watched cowboys ride buckin broncos all night, and finished up the night with more fireworks.

Had to get a photo of the rose petals : ) This was a Valentine's Day present that I finally cashed in on. This place is down the street from our house and really beautiful - big comfy couches, the pottery they use for everything is really pretty. Would be fun to go here next time we have girlie visitors.

The rodeo stands

The ring in the setting sun.

Cowboy on buckin bronco in lights



Ashley loves it when I take his photo when he's eating. A carmel apple covered in M&Ms. : )

 Sunday we spent working more in the yard and getting things ready for our travelers this week. More photos to come!!

Just getting back from a weekend on the Mississippi.  It was so fun.  We drove up to La Crosse and started there.  Here's the rest...

Here was the temp when we arrived.  106!  Due to the heat, we figured camping on the boat would be out of the question.  Hence, the next few pictures....

7 of us in one hotel room!  Macy got the best bed in the house.  It fit her perfectly and everyone was jealous.  As you can see, she didn't mind it herself.

Yes, they are in sleeping bags.  While it as 106 outside, we had the air in the hotel room at 68.  The girls slept on cots which were supposed to be used for camping, but came in handy in the hotel room too - lol.  

The next morning, we headed out on the river.  Here we are at the first lock and dam on our way up.

It's been a long week with the 4th of July and a lot of fresh air.  Macy took a nap on daddy at 11:00 am on Saturday morning.

You've probably noticed sweatshirts and towels in the last few pictures...yes, it went from 106 to very cold overnight.  we were bundled up until afternoon, but it didn't keep us from having a good time.

Look at this waterslide!  This is Morgan catching air on her way down.  We all took turns - it was awesome.  A family set it up using "ag-bag" the stuff they use on farms to cover hay.  They also had a generator that pumped water from the river up to the top so it was super slippery!  OMG we had so much fun on it.  I think Matt was a bit jealous he didn't think of it himself.  I bet money the guys boat trip will include a water slide like this;)

And...here he is.  It took all afternoon to finally get him on it!

Matt and Chris manning the grill.  We had kabobs on the beach.

The sand dunes were amazing.  The girls got a workout running up them...

...and even more fun running down them.

They had sand in/on every inch of their body:)

The view of the boat from above.  So reminded me of being a kid on the Wisconsin river.  Brought back great memories.

On our way out - what a great afternoon on the sandbar.

Captain Macy helped us get part of the way home...

...before she fell asleep - again:)

Gorgeous Sunset.  The end.