Crater Lake National Park & Ashland

We went to Crater Lake today and it was beautiful! I have only been once and there was a ton of snow at that time so to have a 75 degree sunny day with puffy white clouds was great.  I had been watching the park webcams all week and you couldn't even see the lake due to rain clouds Monday and Tuesday.  Unfortunately I am getting to where hiking around at high elevations in warm weather isn't the smartest idea. We took things very easy enjoying the lookouts, drinking lots of water, and taking my time walking instead of power hiking. JD loves taking his time so I think he is enjoying the turned table with me asking him to slow down a bit. It was fun seeing snow and there were even a couple of crazy people who hiked Watchman Outlook and skied down the mountain.  We have had a fun weekend in Ashland. It has been 95-100 degrees here in Oregon which I know you Utahns that read this are used to but it has put my body into heat shock; we are not used to this weather to the point that most apartments don't even have air conditioning since you usually only need it 1-2 weeks out of the year. I much prefer 70 degrees with a chance of rain compared with this. Besides escaping the heat by going to Crater Lake, in the evenings we have gotten 'cold treats' of slurpees and icecream and wandered around the shops downtown or Lithia Park enjoying the declining temperatures as my body recovers. While here we were also able to see Haylie and her cute new baby Sawyer.  We ate hamburgers at Jaspers-this time JD went for the Himalayan Antelope.  I was also able to unlock the Civic so JD could have the keys to his car back.  It has been a very nice weekend to say the least.

Garners at the Gorge

We got to see the Garner's!  It was so good to see our good friends for a couple of days while they were here on vacation.  It was fun getting caught up telling tales of pharmacy and med school, babies, and being pregnant.  We got to hang out for a bit Saturday evening and Sunday we went to 5 different waterfalls in the Gorge and the International Rose Test Garden.  It was very rainy and so we were wet but luckily that didn't spoil the things we were able to see and do-though maybe our hair would beg to differ. 

Two pregnant friends.  We are about 12 weeks apart and I must say I am glad that I am the one who is closer to the end.  We are getting excited to meet this little guy.

The roses were beautiful!  I loved the rain drops all over them and how the whole garden is in full bloom again.  We found a rose that we thought would be a good namesake for the next Garner baby: Rainbow Sunblaze, fingers crossed that it sticks!

Lassitude

Lassitude: weariness of body or mind from strain, oppressive climate, etc.; lack of energy; listlessness; languor.

So I feel like a loser, it wasn't until I realized that it was June 22 and that it has been a month since we went on our vacation, I was dismayed to realize just how terribly far behind I am with the blog.  I have lots to get caught up on including the adventure JD and I took, the fun we had with the Speths being here, and everything that has been going on since.

Truth is though, it is hard to do things like blog after my long days at work right now, especially with JD being home a lot more doing some online classwork. Not to be rude, but I would much rather spend my time with him when he is available than do things like blog anyway. Now that the online portion is over and JD is busy again though, I have the sincere goal of getting caught up despite the fatigue that has taken over.

Fox Family Day Trip

 
 
The Fox's were the first people in our ward that we met when we moved here-they were actually our apartment managers and we got to know them pretty well and they have become great friends during our stay here in Oregon.  They were nice enough to invite me to come with them for a day trip to the Tillamook Cheese Factory and to Cape Outlook State Park.  The weather was amazing: sunny, 70 degrees, light warm breeze, and perfect.  Savannah and I had fun chatting and watching their kids run around.  We are definitely grateful for the friends that we have made and the ward family we have.

Cannon Beach Sand Castle Fesitval

Several years ago, my family got to see the end product of the sand castles left over from the festival completely by accident.  I thought they were amazing.  So this year, I have been doing my best to figure out when the festival was (they aren't super good at publicizing it).  I talked JD into going in a trade where last weekend we had to be 'responsible' and do things like clean and go though paperwork, and other boring grown up stuff like that.  Incentive was that we could go to the Sand Castle Festival. 
JD was up and ready to go at 5:15 AM, for those of you who are familiar with JD's sleeping habits, this is amazing.  He didn't want to mess with crowds and parking so we found ourselves in Cannon Beach slightly after 7, and yes, we did get an amazing parking spot, and no, there was not immediate competition when we first arrived though by 8 all available spots were taken.
We ate breakfast at the American Legion Lodge, it was really good they had eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits and gravy, fruit, and pancakes.  It was buffet style so JD got lots of sausage.  We were on the beach at 8 when they let the "Masters" begin their competition.  They had prebuilt boards and rings for packing sand and a ton of water buckets to mix the sand.  9:00 let all other participants begin their work. A back hoe came in and dug several water holes though we did find a group that had created their own pumping and hose system that resembled a step machine. 
The rest of our day consisted of watching the different group's 'castles' take shape.  There was a Candy Land one (won the Masters and $1200 ), The Other Side of the Stack that was a pretty cool castle of Haystack Rock with a fairy tail style back side, a golfer in a sand trap, a bath tub being drained, tiki men, bears taking over a camp site, a 60th birthday cake among many others.  It was fascinating to see the Master's build up and shape their sand formations.   We had a lot of fun, staying until the tide came back in, we will have to see where we are this time next year and if we will be able to go again.

Work Baby Shower

We had a shower at work today for Amy and myself.  We are 1 month apart and it has been so nice to have a friend to talk with while dealing with the highs and lows of being pregnant.  I do have to say though, I am definitely blessed to have amazing coworkers.  In the 6 months I have been with Providence our department has undergone a ton of change-I've even had a job change since starting, but we are a tight knit group and it has been so fun getting to know so many people.  The shower was great and goodness they were all so generous!  We have lots of new things for the baby from a Graco Pack n Play to diaper bags, clothes, blankets, and diapers.  I was grateful that JD was able to come and enjoy the food and help fill up the car with everything after it was over.  It is strange having more than a Costco box of baby wipes in the second bedroom now.

Oregon Zoo

We got to go to the Oregon Zoo today with Will and Ally.  It is a pretty cool zoo, I loved the river otters the best.  The zoo is part of Forest Park and therefore there are trees everywhere, some of the animal areas are just forested portions that have been built up for safety.  They have a baby river otter, elephant, and monkey and we got to see all three of them up, awake, and playing.  We were able to see the whole zoo and still have time to go berry picking on Sauvie Island afterwards.  The strawberries are amazing, and thankfully JD was a very good sport in picking most of them....I started to pick and it didn't take long before I realized the baby wasn't such a big fan of standing up and bending down over and over again to pick the biggest bestest berries.

Oregoned Out

What a crazy couple of weeks we have had!  We had our own mini vacation down the coast, the Speths came to play, and we got to hang out with our pharmacy friends.  JD has traveled all but about 34.7 miles of the Oregon Highway 101 of 346 miles total in less than 2 weeks and a total of 3 ocean trips.  We have done a ton of new things, seen a lot of animals, trees, beaches, ocean, a new temple, and where JD will be doing a few rotations as well.  Last night I asked JD what he wanted to do (it being Friday and all) and his response was 'nothing'.  I said that is fine, do you want to watch a movie or something? He just looked at me and repeated 'nothing'.  That should give you an idea of just how busy his break has been.  Regardless of our current physical state, we are both so grateful for the time we have had to spend together and with our family as well as the incredible things we have been able to see and enjoy.  We feel truly blessed to be here in Oregon.

Speth Trip Day 6: The Gorge and Home

Today was the final day for the Speths to experience "our way of life" here in Oregon.  They packed up and drove out to The Gorge with JD driving separately.  They got to see Shepherd's Dell, Bridal Veil, Wakeena, Multnomah, and Horsetail Falls.  When they were all done exploring, Speth's continued east on 1-84 and JD came home and took a nice nap. It has been fun, but also crazy the past couple weeks.

Speth Trip Day 5: Astoria, Seaside, Ecola

Final Full Day in Oregon=Coast

This day included the Astoria Column complete with flying an airplane off the top of the column.  Ft Stevens State Park, seeing the ship wreck and photo bombing Miranda's mad tumbling skills.  Seaside, seeing a 2 week old baby harbor seal and playing in the touch pool.  Ecola State Park, tide pooling and hanging out on Indian Beach.  We had a really good dinner at La Fogata, a Mexican place near us that has foot long gigantic burritos.  It was a lot of fun having the Speth's here and having the chance to show them around Oregon and let them see part of the reason why we love it here so much. 

 

Speth Trip Day 4: Downtown Portland

The day started off with JD, Jeff, JaNae, Sye, and Jake going to the Portland Temple while Miranda slept in.  They got to go down town to see the sites.  Some stops included: Waterfront Park, Powell's Book Store, Pioneer Square, and VooDoo Donuts (a first time attendance for JD-I don't eat donuts so the only ones he has had are ones I have brought to him from coworkers that I didn't eat) they are a very famous donut shop with rather unusual names and toppings.  Portland has what becomes almost a month long celebration for the Rose Festival, and one of the first things that happens is the Pioneer Square flower art.  They put a design on display for about 2 1/2 weeks at which point all the flowers that were used in the art are sold.  After the downtown adventures I was able to meet up with the fam and we went to Washington Square Mall to eat dinner, but a stop at the Lego store was a must the picture on this post was what I saw when I walked into the store: three grown little boys looking at a box of Legos.  Miranda got to go see a Timbers game with her friend Joe who is playing on one of the reserve teams for the Timbers.  We ate at the Cheesecake Factory and it was delicious.  It was another busy but fun day.