Friday, August 21, 2009

Baby on the Way & Last Blog Post For Now

Yep, we're having a baby! Our third child is due next March and we couldn't be happier. Because of overwhelming all-day nasuea and tiredness and because school is starting soon, I just can't keep up with this blog right now. So I'm going to take a little break for now. I'll be adding pictures and updates to Facebook so please find me on there to keep up with what's happening in our family.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Anniversary Trip to Southern Oregon

Shane and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary this August! To celebrate we left the girls with my mom and headed to Southern Oregon to do the Farm & Wine Tour, attend the Britt Festival in Jacksonville, raft the Rouge River and explore Ashland and nearby towns. We had a great time and we feel very blessed to have had ten wonderful years of marriage. Although we've been married ten years, we've been together almost 17!

If photos don't load through FaceBook just go to www.sweetsimpleliving.blogspot.com

The highlight of our trip was a jet boat tour down the Rouge River. On our 4-hour Champagne Brunch tour we saw two bald eagles, osprey, blue herons, deer and lots of other wildlife. Shane wanted to sit in the very front row and since we had a driver who was intent on getting our boat wet, we got completely soaked. We loved it!

The brand new $2 M OK Coral built exclusively for guests of Hellsgate Jet Boat Tours. Here we enjoyed a delicious champagne brunch.

Our boat took us into the amazing Hellsgate Canyon (where The River Wild with Kevin Bacon and Meryl Streep was filmed)



Another favorite farm and antique shop on the Farm & Wine tour. This farm was recently featured in Country Living magazine.

At the Rouge Valley Creamery - stop one on the Southern Oregon Farm & Wine Tour. At the gourmet chocolate shop next door we tried chocolate covered bacon and it was... good!

Shopping in Jacksonville.
The Britt Festival in Jacksonville. We met up with our friend Jenni (Shane has known her since kindergarten and we had our first date in high school at her house) for a gourmet picnic and concert.



Another stop on the self-guided farm tour. We tried amazing cheese pates here.

The food and atmosphere at this quaint little farm restaurant outside Grants Pass was amazing!

Annah, Our Soccer Girl

Camping at Suttle Lake





Monday, July 20, 2009

River Cabin Retreat With Friends

Last week we spent a couple days right on the Little North Fork River at a Thetford Lodge with good friends. We spent two nights and three days exploring the river, hiking, eating and playing games. We had nine adults and ten kids - it was crazy but we had a great time!

The cabin sat right above this spot on the river and the kids had a great time swimming in this beautiful swimming hole.

One of our GeoCashing adventures led us to this cave. Bears???

The kids open the GeoCash capsule. They found little toy treasures inside.



Shane and Keith washing dishes.

The women preparing a picnic for our day of hiking, GeoCashing and swimming.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

4th of July Camping Trip


We just got back from five great days at the Oregon Coast (outside our favorite coast town, Manzanita) for our annual family camping trip with both sides of our family. This year some friends of ours also happened to be camping at the same campground with their four children and we all had a lot of fun together.



A misty morning at our campsite.

A visit to the infamous Flamingo Jim's.


We spent an afternoon crabbing with Grandpa Darell in the bay. The girls loved catching the crabs but didn't care too much for eating them.


Waiting for the parade in Manzanita. We set up our chairs at 7 am and almost all the spots on the entire street were already reserved!




The girls with one of their favorite uncles, Dale.

Root beer floats for dessert on the 4th!

Making the trek up the short hill to the beach to watch the fireworks.

Waiting around the campfire for the fireworks to start.

Annah and her friend Ruby exploring the sand dunes at dusk on the 4th of July.