Birthday present

Jay built me a wonderful firepit for my birthday. It was 95 degrees the day he put it in, but he insisted on having a fire that night, so the kids and I had S'mores. I can't tell you how nice it's been to build a fire in the evenings and just relax!

Camping

Our second annual camping trip with Grandpa Jim and Grandma Cassie. This year we spent three days at a beautiful State Park on the south Santiam river.


The kids, Joey and I spent a lot of time in the water. The river was freezing but it had lots of huge, deep pools to paddle around in and since the campgrounds had no showers...this was the next best thing!

Right behind our campsite was a .75 mile trail to a cute little water fall called Soda Creek Falls. We were lucky enough to have the trail to ourself so we climbed around on the fallen trees and let the dogs run loose. On the last day of camping Joey, our yellow lab, decided to eat Chloe's fishing hook and bait. Luckily after 2 weeks we decided that the hook must have passsed through "naturally" so no huge vet bill for us! Can't wait for next years camping adventure!

Crater Lake

Over Labor Day weekend we took a trip down to Medford to see Jay's family. On Sunday we decided to go on a Sunday drive (with hundreds of other people) and headed for Crater Lake. We stopped at the natural bridge on the way, picniced at the Lake and stopped at the gorge on the way home. Crater Lake was amazing as you could see by the beautiful blue water, the pictures don't do it justice. Next time we go we want to take the boat ride to Wizard island and stay at the lodge.

First day of school

First of all I know I'm a total slacker and need to post 6 months worth of pictures but I promise I'll catch up at some point. John and Chloe were so excited for school to start, though John would never admit it. Can't believe how quickly the summer past but we are all ready to go for another school year. I thought Kaiya would miss her siblings but I think she's just as happy to have her own time with me.