Camping is a way of life!

CJ and I love to camp. We have gone on three long camping weekends since Memorial Day. We love to find new places to explore, hike, build a great campfire, and enjoy the Pacific Northwest. Rarely, and I mean rarely do we stay in a state campground because we so enjoy being out in the wilderness. We did however stay at a group site with peeps from our kickball team. We stayed on the Santiam River at Cascadia St. Park. We had such a great time! It was sooo pretty there. Yes, there were park rangers, yes there were other campers, but it was still fun. Here are a few pictures:

We hiked up to Soda Creek Falls- super pretty!

CJ on our hike

The view from inside our tent!

Our end of camp

Tate found his way on top of our bed :)

Bailey licking her lips after finding some yummy morsel.

We were lucky to have been told about the place in Prineville that I blogged about early this summer. We went there again for the 5 days over the Fourth of July. It sits on the outskirts of the Prineville Reservoir. There is no dock nearby so we had to drop our boat off at the state park and drive it in which took about 15 minutes. From the state park it takes another 15 minutes to drive on a very windy, dirty, gravel road. Once you get there though, it is heaven! It is so peaceful and quiet. Well, until we get out of the car that is! We had a great time with our friends, Emily, Reagan, Eric, and Matt. We also had our three dogs and Daisy (a 110 pound American Bulldog!)

The rocks CJ jumped off of...

Campsite

The whole gang (L-R: Matt, Eric, Reagan, Emily, Amy, CJ, and all of the dogs!)

Ems and I

CJ getting more ice~ we went through a lot of it!

The campfire provided hours of entertainment for the boys

Our boat at dusk

Visit to Boise, Idaho

Back in March my dad and I drove to Boise to visit my grandmother Jeanne. She has been ill and they moved her into a retirement community at the age of 89! Up until this winter she has remained very active in the community as a floral judge, Boise State Alum {who never misses a home game}, and hanging out with her friends. When her heart started giving her trouble she was admitted to the hospital. She was in and out a few times and we thought we were going to lose her. Thankfully she is doing much better and enjoying her new home. Here are a few special pictures to me that I thought I would share with you.

~How Time Flies~

A lot has happened in the last month and a half. Apparently, I have neglected my Blog. For this I apologize {to the few of you who actually read this!} In April I had a non-cancerous tumor removed from my upper thigh/ lower hip region. It was huge! The size of a softball. It was a pretty rough recovery, thank God for Percocet and a very compassionate husband. I thought I would be up and on my feet in a day or two. Technically I was, it was just very painful. It took me a solid 5-6 weeks to be "normal" again. Needless to say my running {which I had began to really enjoy} flew out the window. This week was my first week back. It felt good, but it was hard!

CJ and I have been intense gardeners in the last few weeks. We have totally redone our yard, beds, pathways, etc. We live on two acres and it takes a lot of time to get our front yard and backyard in presentable shape. For the last five years I have planted some flowers but we haven't spent a lot of time/money on the yard. Well, this year is different! We have a 15x20 organic vegetable and fruit garden which I am very excited about! I bought so many starts/seeds that I had to plant my lettuce, basil, cilantro, and jalapeno peppers in containers because there wasn't enough room. Ooops! We bought a "yard" {which is a dump truck full} of nice dark bark dust and have been spreading that around which makes the whole place really look amazing. To top it off my mom and I have gone to some of our favorite nurseries and have bought quite a few perennials for my beds. Al's and Smith Berry Barn didn't know what hit them when we came in :) Last Saturday my parents came out and the four of us went to the Hillsboro Farmer's Market. We bought some great plants but CJ surprised me and bought me a very nice handmade cedar potting bench. It has gotten a lot of use in its first week! I feel so excited about our yard. We definitely have a lot still to do but we are chipping away at it bit by bit. It has been so fun working with CJ on this project. He and I are really enjoying our weekend gardening time together. With the nice weather we are looking forward to having people over and barbecuing. {Pictures to come on the next post, I have to upload them!}


We spent Memorial Day weekend at the Prineville Reservoir with some great friends. My sister Emily and her boyfriend {who I really like!} were also able to make it over for the weekend. The spot we camped was awesome, but the weather was so-so. We were able to take our boat out a few times but it definitely wasn't hot like it has been in the past. The only downfall of the weekend is I got a bad sunburn on my hands. "Hands?" you ask. Well, let me tell you! If your doctor tells you that antibiotics will make your skin more sensitive to the sun you should listen. It wasn't even 9 am on Saturday morning and my hands got burnt! The rest of my skin was covered so I was fine elsewhere. I could not believe how painful my hands were. They hurt for a solid 5 days. For some reason the picture below does not show how red they were but it was the best I could get. We liked the spot so much we will be going back for the 4th of July!











CJ has also competed in two big "sporting" races. He did "Reach the Beach" which is a 104 mile bike ride from Beaverton to Pacific City. He completed it in 6 hours and 40 mins. Yes, his rear was sore afterwards but he was a trooper. He and our friend Jeff Lee trained for it together. Jeff is engaged to my sweet friend Karen! Karen and I were in Grad school together and we absolutely adore Jeff and Karen. Then last weekend CJ did an Olympic Triathlon at Blue Lake. That is a whopping 1 mile open water swim, 26 mile bike ride, 6.2 mile run. He completed it 2 hours and 45 minutes which was 15 minutes faster than he was hoping for. He also did this in the pouring rain. Portland received 1.5 inches of rain that day. It felt like a monsoon to me {yes, I was in my nice warm house while he was out competing!}







Finally, we have been busy with coed kickball, birthday parties, engagement parties, baby showers, baptisms, walking the dogs, hiking, spending time with our families, and celebrating how awesome life is everyday! We feel totally blessed and are excited for the upcoming summer season!

7!

As of this morning I have lost 7 pounds. I was pretty excited. I hope they keep coming off.

Living Room

My sweet friend Emily helped me paint my living room. It went from a deep wine color to a refreshing shade called "cappuccino." The color is from Restoration Hardware and it is my new fave.I love this color! It looks great with our white trim and different shades of brown that we use in our living room. I had 6 different samples that I looked at and I am so happy with my choice. Here are a few pictures of our work:

As we went- the new color next to the old color!

My sample colors:

Time to write it down...

So, the last few weeks I have made some huge personal changes. I am determined to get in shape and get healthy. I think that by writing it down it will help me keep focused and accountable. Not only do I want to lose weight but I want to get healthy.

I have started a running program that I downloaded onto my iPhone called "Couch to 5K." I LOVE it! For someone who hasn't been a runner it is a great way to get someone started and continue on it. I actually look forward to my runs. I am at the end of week 3 and can't believe I am sticking to it! CJ and are playing golf one day a week or going snowboarding (since the mountain was just dumped on). We have also joined a fun kickball team in SE Portland. Although it isn't super strenuous it is one more way to be active. I have been trying to go to the gym 3-4 times a week which some weeks I do better than others. I am so glad we have a membership at Hawthorne Farm Athletic Club. It is sooo nice there and is not a meat market like 24 hour or Ballys.

I have been eating a lot better to boot! I really would like to lose 15-20lbs. this spring. I have to manage what I am eating and drinking. I really eat pretty healthy, it is the drinking that is killing me. I love a good beer (IPA!) or a glass of wine. I am really limiting this. My doctor also told me he wants me to go wheat-free for 6 weeks. I am on day two of it and it hasn't been so bad. I am hoping that it will help me shed a few pounds.

CJ has been a great influence and inspiration to me. He has lost 40lbs! He is a workout machine. He gets up three times a week at 4:45 to go to a Master's Swimming class at the Downtown Athletic Club. He is a part of a triathlon training group that runs/swims/bikes 3x a week for 2 hours, and he plays soccer two times a week. WOW! He is looking A-MAZING! So sexy! He is so much happier too. Yesterday he and our friend Jeff went on a 64 mile bike ride from Beaverton to Vernonia and back. They are training for the Reach the Beach- starting in Beaverton and riding a bike to Pacific City! It is is a whopping 104 miles. Yowzas! Not for me :) Needless to say he is a huge inspiration and has been nothing but supportive of me.

So, I will make a valiant effort to update this with my progress. Keep me in your prayers. I am not the best with losing weight, but I am hoping that if I write it down it makes it become real.

A Change Will Do You Good!

So I have been blonde my entire life. I began highlighting my hair in high school and then getting a weave every two months starting in college. I loved my hair, I really did. But, I always wondered how I would look as a brunette. Would it make me look more mature or would it wash me out. I decided to color my hair at the beginning of this month. My hairdresser was shocked and gave me a thorough talking to. But, once I make up my mind there is no going back. The result: I LOVE IT! It is so fun to have dark hair. I don't think it washes me out at all and it actually goes well with my skin tone. CJ says it felt as though he was cheating on his wife at first {hehe!} My kids at school asked if I "painted my hair!" Not quite, but I get why they would think that.

So here the after shot~



What do you think?