Oregon & Sequoia

I am so behind on blogging, it's not even funny! It's been fun catching up on other family and friends' blogs in the last few days. I feel like I've missed out on lots of things! Thanks to all the updates I've been reading, I feel inspired to update my own blog.

We left town for 3 weeks and Whitney started school on Tuesday, so life has been busy. I know this blog post will be longer than a novel if I try and power pack in everything that we've been up to since I last posted. So this post is just a recap of 2 trips we took in July; hopefully this desire to keep blogging will continue and more posts will come.

Tyler and I started off July by heading up to Bend, Oregon for an oral surgery conference. It was our first time up there, and we fell in love with the area!! Google Maps said the drive would take just under 9 hours, but somehow Tyler's car grew wings, and we flew up there in 7 1/2.

I loved seeing Tyler so relaxed, and I loved having him all to myself for 15 hours of undivided car-riding attention. We discussed tons of things as we drove and even came up with a list of baby names. Now that's HUGE progress for us--to have a working list of baby names before we're driving to the hospital!

Random thoughts about our trip:

* We could not have done it without Superwoman, I mean Tyler's mom, watching the kids. She came up all by herself to be a single mom for 4 days/3 nights to our 3 kids. Talk about a labor of love! We are forever in her debt.

* We saw only ONE (1!) Oregon police car. We thought since it was 4th of July weekend, they'd be all over, but that was just in California, I guess.

* Unfortunately road trips had us eating out a lot (not my favorite thing to do), and we noticed many of the youth working had "meth mouth." Tyler can spot it from a mile away. Apparently meth is the drug of choice up there?

* We could not have survived without our trusty little Garmin. It was so nice to not have pages of google maps printed off. We could just type in anything we needed and find our way there in a heartbeat. The picture below shows our trusty navigator and the HUGE snowbanks up by Crater Lake.

What in the world? Look at that snow. It was July for crying out loud!

* Tyler and I went out on a limb and did a "Starlight Canoe Tour" while we were up there. It was a really neat experience! Tyler set up this self-timed shot on the rocks before we headed out on our canoe.

We got to the lake just as the sun set and hopped in our canoes.

We'd paddle for a while, then our guide would stop and talk to us about the lake and the area, and then we'd paddle some more. We stopped for a bonfire and dessert along the shore. By the time we were rowing back, the sky was pitch black. As you can probably imagine, we could see every star in the sky. Just breathtaking.

Sunday, July 4th I got to go to church while Tyler attended his conference. I think I got more out of that meeting than I have in probably 6 years. Needless to say, I was even more grateful that Sunday for Tyler's mom who was back home flying solo at our church with our 3 little kids. That night we attended a BBQ for the oral surgery conference families and saw the fireworks in the car as we drove back to our hotel.

On our way home from Oregon, we stopped to see the deepest lake in the USA--Crater Lake. Man, was it magnificent! They say the huge lake formed after a volcano collapsed about 7,700 years ago. The water is crystal clear and the bluest we'd ever seen.

Tyler took the shot on the left to show how clear the water was; just beautiful! Some people told us that there are trails where you can bike around the whole lake. If we weren't in a rush to get home (and I didn't have a pregnant gut in the way), that would have been so fun! Next time, I guess.

After Crater Lake, we sped back home to see our little kiddos. Annie was borderline hysterical greeting us; she was laughing with glee so hard that tears were streaming down her face. I don't think she let go of my neck for 10 minutes. We must have caught her off guard or something because she acted like we had just come back from the dead. It was a moment I will not soon be forgetting.

Grandma Nelson stayed in town the rest of the week visiting, playing, and working like a dog. She went to town teaching me how to clean my carpets with this magic cleaner/vacuum/system she uses. She cooked up a storm, we visited the pool, and also rode the ferry in to the city for a little trip.

Grandma's popularity quickly increased as she bought the kids the yummiest treats to eat! The kids made some great memories with Grandma, and we couldn't be more grateful for her sacrifice to watch them for us so we could enjoy a real getaway.

Sequoia

We took a QUICK trip down to Sequoia to go camping with my dad, his kids, and my sister and her family. We zipped down as soon as soon as Tyler got off work one Friday afternoon, and then we drove back home the next day. Not even 24 hours were spent down there, but we made sure to pack in the memories.

Glowsticks (thank you Grandpa Harrison!!), campfire, and dessert on the first night--does it get better than that?

After a long night of restless sleeping in our tent (Tyler and I forgot to bring our air mattress--not the best idea when you're 30 weeks pregnant--Doh!), we welcomed the new day. Grandpa Harrison cooked us a delicious breakfast of egg burritos, bacon, and sausage -- such a contrast from the Pop-tarts that we usually bring for our camping breakfast!

Then we headed out to see the Sequoia sights. A huge highlight of our first hike was seeing a black bear! It was just a little cub, and we were fascinated as we watched it just a few feet away from us.

My dad and his older kids were such a help to us with our wimpy hiking kids. We couldn't have made it without them.

After hiking around the Giant Forest of Sequoia, we headed over to Moro Rock - a steep climb up 400 or so steps to a beautiful view of the surrounding areas. Again, my kids were wimpy in the hiking department, and unfortunately they did not appreciate the amazing view at the top. But we got a picture to prove that we conquered Moro Rock:

After all that hiking, we stopped for a picnic lunch and let the kids run around and play at their own pace.

Then we went back to camp and played one last time in the creek. The kids even attempted fishing.

We can't wait to go camping again when Tyler's residency doesn't rule our lives. It would have been fun to spend even more time down in Sequoia, but we still made some fun memories!