Random this week

We laid low this weekend since we were in Bend the previous weekend and leave for Kauai this weekend. Four days till we leave, woo hoo!

Started packing, cleaned, caught up around the house and worked on some crafty projects on Saturday:

I've started needle felting with the fleece we got from Dave and Nora's alpacas.
Here's a little mouse and an owl (that only has one eye so far). Am going to make a group of little woodland animals as a baby shower gift for our friend Jami who is due in June.

This one will be a nest with three little eggs - thought I'd make a bunny and chick to go with it as a springy/Easter decoration. Heather - it reminds me of your nest necklace : ) 

Bottled a batch of limoncello from Fritz and Susanne's lemons.

Found this jadeite butter dish at a resale shop. I've been looking for an antique jadeite piece that I like for a while, so excited.

Embroidered a tea towel as part of a wedding shower gift for our friends Bryce and Heather (he's from CA, Heather is from AK. You all probably met Bryce at our wedding - he's a childhood friend of Ashley's that lives near us). Needs a wash to get the wrinkles out, but its pretty much done. Can't wait to see some of the embroidery Mom has been doing!

Sunday a.m. I went for a hike with girlfriends (we go the last Sunday of every month) and out for dim sum afterwards.

So much good food! This is the dumplings course (this is Haylie in the picture - Mom and Dad - you've probably met her at a kickball game or Dad, she was at my bday party last year).

Long weekend in Bend

I had off work Monday for President's Day, so a while ago we reserved a yurt in a state park near Bend to spend the long weekend in some snowy sunshine.

We left Saturday morning, stopped on Mt. Bachelor to do some classical cross country skiing on trails, and checked into the park late day.

Home for the weekend: sunny yurt porch on Saturday afternoon

Bunk bed inside yurt. Its pretty sparse: there were the bunks, a table and chairs, a futon and coffee table and that's it. It had heat though, which was definitely needed. The days hit the 50s, but nights were in the 20s. We cooked hobo dinners over a campfire that night and crashed early since we were tired from skiing.

We went for a morning dog walk with our coffee along the Deschutes river Sunday morning
 (Heather - it still cracks me up that you said Deschutes sounds like "the runs" in French - so true!)

Later Sunday morning we headed up to Mt. Bachelor to ski. My insanely dorky skate ski outfit cracked Ashley up so much that he took a picture. I use my skate ski boots, skis, etc that were my 14th birthday present : ) Also, notice the BIG snow drift in the background - Bachelor had tons of snow, it was great.

Ashley loves it when I take his picture.

This is the groomed skate ski loop at Bachelor. The peaks in the background are the Three Sisters - Ashley and I climbed one of those peaks over Labor Day weekend around 2006 - our first backpacking trip together : ).

And my circa 1994 skate ski boot finally bites the dust - I was leaving pieces of plastic on the trail behind me.

 After skiing we grabbed some beers at a brewery in Bend, showered back at the campground, and headed to see Life of Pi in 3d at a theater. I loved the book years ago, and really really enjoyed the movie.

Monday morning we made breakfast at the yurt and headed on the road back to Portland early. We stopped at  Smith Rock for a leg stretch and to wander around. Its a famous rock climbing spot - can you see the climbers on the wall? They are INSANE. I could never do that in a million years.

Smith Rock with Black Butte in the background.

Better photo of climbers on the face of the cliff. 

Got back to Portland Monday afternoon in time to grab a late lunch near our house, unpack, clean up and get some stuff done for the week. It was a really nice long weekend and felt great to escape the pea soup of Portland for some sunshine!

Also, lets see, Deb and Dave were married in 1995? So this is your 18th anniversary?!? Holy cow. Hope you enjoyed celebrating! XO