What Didn't We Do This Last Weekend?

This last weekend was CRAZY at our house! Zack and Andy headed up north to Wild Waves for a youth group trip at 7:15am on Saturday.

Then Chris and I went out to help work on the Thrivent Habitat house for a few hours. We were grateful to be working indoors out of the sun but were very frustrated by the amount of time that was spent re-doing things we had already done for no good reason. Arrrr! But the house is coming along nicely...

Randy and Chris discussing the shower enclosure

Walt "helping" Jon

Jim on the ladder to the roof

Jon doesn't need a ladder

Then it was off to church for the Ottosen wedding. The wedding was beautiful and both Chris and Will did a GREAT job! Chris, of course, performed the ceremony which was very nice and Will ran the sound board for the first time! He even got an honorarium for his services, which made Will feel very grown up and made mommy feel very old!

Will the Sound Guy

the photographer's daughter


Mr & Mrs Clint Ottosen

they got a pretty sweet ride to the reception

Clint and Tausha

LOL

After the wedding we went home to do a bit more work before heading back to church to pick up the boys at 9:45. They both had a great time but we became the proud parents of two lobsters! I suppose that's what happens when you are out at a water park all day before you have established a base tan and decide you are too cool for sunblock (Andy!).

Things didn't slow down much on Sunday. It was the last day of Sunday School for the summer and our annual church picnic at Riverside Park. God blessed us with the perfect weather and a nice shady spot close to parking and bathrooms. It was such a fun time that none of us took the time to take any pictures of all the great food, soccer games, ladderball or water balloons. :o(

The Olins stopped by the park just as we were packing up so we invited them over to go swimming before we had to head over the bridge to Elizabeth's baccalaureate service. (What's one more thing,right?) This was the first time for Chris and I in the pool and it was... well, we cooled off fast! We especially enjoyed making whirlpools! And with that many people, you can make quite a whirlpool! The water in the center began to dip down and the water on the sides started to rise over the edge! Needless to say, it was quite the workout to reverse directions against that much power!

Rainier's baccalaurate service was very nice. Again, no pictures but they sang many of our favorite praise songs and the message was good.

Everybody was glad to get home and go right to bed. Well, not before doing a little bit of web surfing and a good slathering of aloe.

Memorial Day

For Memorial Day we headed back up to Sore Acres to get more firewood and visit with our friends the McMurrys.

The weather was gorgeous and we had lots of fun! And on a bright note, we didn't forget anything or bring anything that belonged to someone else! LOL

first we picked up the load of logs Chris and I left

boys, guns, quad and dogs

loading the potato cannon

You don't want to stand in the way of a potato

being fired with 80 pounds of pressure!

taking the load back down to the trailer

Andy, Will and Zack (the now legal driver of quads!)

I decided this is the perfect spot for a house

with windows facing this...

Mt. Hood and the valley below, and...

Mt. Adams!


How great would it be to see that out your kitchen window?

Seamus hitched a ride back to camp

Andy and Seamus did some target practice

Seamus' gun looks remarkably like his dad's bagpipe chanter

the big boys eating...

and the little boy eating

Seamus returned Chris' hat

we gave Betsy a good brushing

(no, unfortunately she's not bald now)

we're collecting quite the pile of wood to split and stack!


I decided to bring home something more decorative than firewood.

These white lilacs are so pretty and now the whole kitchen smells lovely!

Childless Camping

The boys had their big final movie shoot this weekend, so Chris and I decided to take advantage of the unusually beautiful Memorial Day weekend and go camping.

Thanks to the graciousness and hospitality of Don, we hardly felt like we were camping up at Sore Acres. And we definitely brought more stuff than we needed. Camp was all set up when we arrived with canopy, tables, chairs, firewood, and a cozy trailer to sleep in!

there's even an outhouse now!

Before heading out after firewood, Chris decided to change into jeans. From his tone of voice, choice of words (no, he didn't say any bad words) and walking briskly away from the van, I knew something was not good. When I asked the question and the response was, "Go look for yourself." I knew it was bad.

I know I shouldn't have, but I just had to laugh when I opened the suitcase and saw Zack's coat, Will's bright green Friday School shirt and the boys' toiletries bag. In short, we had swapped luggage for the weekend. We tried to call and warn the boys before they opened their suitcase, containing their parents' underwear, in front of all their friends but to no avail. Thankfully, they didn't get done with the shoot until just before dawn and I think everyone was much too exhausted to notice or care.

Wait! This isn't ours!!!

The firewood we sadly left behind last fall was still waiting by the side of the road to be split and taken home. But this time we were able to spare our poor van the rough and even rockier drive up to the top. We simply parked the trailer at the end of Don's road and took the quad and trailer up to the firewood and brought it back down to our trailer.

even I got to drive the quad!

After sitting all winter, the wood was nice and seasoned. But being so old makes even a bit of firewood stubborn. We could hear the wood creak and groan as Chris pounded the maul into it with the sledge. Sometimes, even with the maul firmly embedded, the old boy just wouldn't give up without a fight and a few good blows with the axe.

future "bad boy"

Thanks to God giving us a gorgeous spring day, a roaring campfire, and Don's willingness to let us sleep in the trailer, it wasn't too bad not having our suitcase. Not having clean clothes has advantages of it's own. Not having clean clothes means you don't have to get undressed for bed in the cold or put on cold clean clothes in the morning. Not having clean clothes means having less laundry to do later. Not having clean clothes means not inadvertently running into any wild animals who normally might not smell you coming. Yeah, not having clean clothes is a good thing...

I also got to shoot my gun at the shooting range after supper. Chris got me this gun the first Christmas after we got married and this is only the second time I've shot it in all these years! And it showed! I stink! I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn! Hopefully I'll get better after some practice. LOTS of practice!

making supper

eating supper

If not for the fact that Betsy started whining at 5:30 in the morning, I would have had a fantastic night's sleep. Having solid walls is really nice. When the wind blows, the walls don't flutter. When the sun comes up, you don't even know it. When you wake up the half of your sleeping bag and pillow nearest the wall is still dry. I kinda miss the tent...

Mornings and evenings are my favorite times out camping. And not just because we get to have a fire. :o)

Friday evening

Saturday morning

I love sunny mornings outside when everything is crisp and fresh. The birds are singing, the bugs aren't out yet, it's lovely! Perhaps if we always lived in a tent in the woods I'd be a morning person. Come to think of it, it's not the mornings I hate, it's the getting out of bed that I hate. Somehow it's easier to get up out of a half-wet sleeping bag in a cold, brightly lit tent. LOL

making morning coffee

I was especially grateful that, unlike the boys, we didn't have room in our suitcase for our toiletries. So we still got to brush our teeth, use deodorant and run a pick through my hair. I was going to use Chris' brush to try to do something with my hair since I didn't have my hat to wear. After rummaging through the bag a bit I remembered that Chris didn't need to pack a brush anymore. Silly me!

Who needs double sinks?

Betsy loves to go with us but is almost immediately ready to go home. Every time we opened the van door or even walked towards the van, she got all excited. She loved going exploring or on walks with us, but was not excited at all about being left behind at camp while we took off to fill the last bit of the trailer and scout our some more firewood.

And it is like firewood heaven up there! Everywhere you look, there's more! And almost everything has potential to be firewood. Dead tree with broken top: firewood. Pile of logs left behind by loggers: firewood. Tree lying across the road: drive the quad over it, get out the chainsaw, cut it up, load it in the trailer... firewood. We even made piles beside the road to go back and get later.

Anyone need firewood? We know where you can get some!

Guess what we'll be doing this summer? More importantly, guess what we'll be heating with this winter?