4th of July weekend

I know I'm a little late in posting this. I was hoping to gather all the photos taken of the event, but rather than wait...I'll just post what I have. With the help of a few friends, we planned a big CLC friends gathering at our place for 4th of July. We invited as many friends as we had contacts with that David and I went to CLC with. It was a great turnout and we had lots of fun talking about "back in the day" or "remember when". Those present included the Hoovers, Avendanos, Dauenhauers, Rashes, Andy Dugas, and the Rices (Thanks Kelda for all your help!). It was a great bunch with lots of kids!!!




The event started at 1:00pm with lunch. Mostly the men gathered on the back patio and the women gathered in the dining room. There was lots of chit chat about our lives and friends we've kept in touch with through the years. And the kids all did their own thing, visiting and jumping in the bounce house.



Later we served another round of food...hotdogs, hamburgers and everything left from earlier and once it got dark, we headed out front for the fireworks. Thank God for wonderful friends who live in Washington, who came bearing the "really good" fireworks! :)




The nights events ended around 11:00 pm, but not without one last hurrah. The next morning we all met up again at Home Town Buffet for breakfast. It was such a nice weekend and a great time. We also had the honor of enjoying the Rash family for a few more days, showing them some of the sites of Oregon and just having a really nie time catching up.

It was so encouraging to see all our friends doing well and serving God. We are sooo blessed! Thank you all who came and made this event such a huge success! We have to do it again real soon!

Berry pickin'

Saturday, 7/26 we went berry picking at Fordyce Berry Farm. It was such a neat place, with a store where you can buy already picked berries, produce and flowers. The cost to pick your own blueberries was 95 cents a pound. We all had so much fun and blueberries are really easy to pick. In an hours time we picked 14 lbs! We brought them home and I washed them up. Some went in the freezer, some went into a pie, some got measured out for jam the next day, and many went right into our mouths! YUM!!!

Vacation

This is our summer vacation. We left on Thursday, 7/17 and came home Tuesday, 7/22. We vacationed w/ Kelda and Steve. Everyone had a great time. The weather was perfect!

Here's a quick rundown of our activities:

Day 1 – drove to Mt. Bachelor, rode the ski lift to the top and had lunch. There was still snow. Breathtaking views! It looks like a great place to go skiing. Would love to try it someday. Check in at Crane Prairie campsite and set up camp. BBQ'd hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner. The highlight are roasted marshmallows and s'mores! I did alright except there was no running water or flushing toilettes. I’m so glad I brought a huge stack of toilette paper liners. Ewwwwwwwww! And there were lots of bugs and mosquitoes. But the lake was beautiful!

Day 2 – Hung out at camp site playing, fishing and boating. Awww…the lake and mountains in the background. Although everyone fished all day...we caught nuttin'! Since we had hoped to cook fish for dinner, and there was none to be had, we ate hotdogs again and Kelda made killer veggy sandwiches.

Day 3 – Cooked breakfast and coffee always tastes so good when you're camping. We packed up camp gear, load up and head to Redmond. Check in at condo at EagleCrest resort. First thing was hit the pool…it was HOT. Then we all showered and cleaned off the “camping” and did 3 loads of laundry at the condo, before driving to Smith Rock (famous for climbing) and had dinner at Terrabonne Depot, a very OLD train depot…cute restaurant. Isn’t the sky beautiful? The sun had just set.

Day 4 – Road the Crooked River train. They serve you a 3 course meal in a moving train and enact a “who dunn it” murder mystery. Sort of korn ball, but it was fun. Got back to the resort and swam some more. Thank the Lord…the swim lessons are paying off (Victoria)! Played ping pong and fixed dinner in the back patio of the condo. We all got sooo dark!

Day 5 – We all went golfing in the morning. It was a blast! It’s a putting course, 18 holes. Dillon beat us all. The men went shooting at this outdoor range while the girls went shopping and got pedicures. We then went to the pool again, in the evening, but there was lighting flashing so they kicked everyone out of the pool.

Day 6 – Ate breakfast and went bike riding. Victoria had her own bike. Dillon rented a quad bike and David/I rented the tandem. It was very funny! After we rode for an hour we went back to the condo to pack up and leave. Spent the rest of the day in Sisters and ate at the Gallery…where we took you guys when we went to the snow. I just love that little town. On the drive home we scouted out some other campsites that we might check out in the future. It was really fun!