This Guy …

This guy …

• is my favorite person in the whole world.
• never puts his clothes in the hamper … instead, he drapes things over chairs, the bed, the dresser, the dog crate, etc.
• can make me laugh in about 2 seconds (or less).
• is creative.
• is a dreamer … which is a blessing and a curse.
• can whip up a meal from random items in the kitchen … and it’s amazing every time.
• encourages me to be brave, and makes fun of me until I give in.
• is terrible with directions.
• is planning a surprise birthday weekend for me … not giving me a single clue … nothing.
• is my favorite, because of things like what he’s doing for me this weekend …
• is the greatest gift in the whole world.

As of 5:00 tonight, my birthday weekend begins (according to Jimmy) … No idea what he has planned, but boy, he’s challenging my control issues. When someone says, “Relax, I’ll take care of it!” … I pretty much do the opposite. Using this as a lesson … I’m going to enjoy the next few days before I turn TWENTY SEVEN!!

Thank you, Jimmy, for making me life more fun.

Manzanita :: At Night

A few weeks ago, we spent some time in Manzanita … We pulled our car right along the edge of the beach, set up the tripod, and shot into the sky. Seeing that many stars at once was pretty magical.

Our Manzanita Adventure

Last weekend, we drove to the coast to photograph the wedding of our dear friends. We decided to stay an extra day to give ourselves a mini vacation … In fact, it was our very first visit to the coast by ourselves!

Here’s Jimmy … welcoming you to Manzanita! :)

We thought it would be awesome to borrow some bikes from our hotel to take to breakfast, then to the beach. Besides the fact they were super rusty, and falling apart, it was awesome!

Say what you will … but these blue skies are the loveliest!

After our morning bike excursion, we hopped in the Jeep & headed out to Wheeler, OR for lunch. Our view wasn’t bad.

After lunch & some wine tasting, we headed back to Manzanita to shower & get ready for dinner. Before dinner, we went to the beach to watch the sunset … It was glorious!

After  the sunset, we found out that the town shuts down at 8:00 … even on Saturdays. So, we ordered a pizza to-go, went back to our room & enjoyed a bottle of wine while watching CABLE!! Can you even imagine how excited we were about that one?? It was such a lovely weekend … so happy to share these moments!

Monday Morning

Monday Morning 8.20.12

Nikon D700 // 28-75mm f2.8 // Processed with VSCO film.

 

What Our Weekend Looked Like

This weekend, we headed out to the Prineville Reservoir with our dear friends Matt & Ali. We spent our days on the water, nights on the beach, and slept under the stars … It was hot, but it was amazing. We have a ton more to share, but for now … here’s a peek at our weekend.

Dad’s Visit :: The Coast

Sad this is our last beach post … but I’m sure three in a row is more than enough for now. In case you missed it, there was our trip to the beach a couple of weeks ago & the visit with my dad and Haley that we captured with our phones.

This day was particularly amazing … We all got a little sun, which is almost unheard of on the Oregon coast. Haley fell into the ocean, which meant we all got to loan her our giant clothes. The dogs enjoyed digging & playing in the sand, and we bought the most expensive bagel sandwiches from a little shop before heading home. Basically, it was a great day! :)

Haley’s first time seeing the ocean on the west coast … 

 

 

Dad giving his new camera a workout!! 

 

 

It literally took Jimmy 5 seconds to teach the dogs to dig in the sand … then they did it for like 15 minutes. Molly loved sticking her head into the sand-hole she dug. It was awesome. 

 

 

 

Dad & Haley in front of Haystack!

 

Some other visitors offered to take a group photo … Nice to have one of all 4 (6) of us!

Human sundial. 

Reminding us all that she is indeed 13! :)

Don’t let this picture fool you. I totally Photoshopped her leash out of the photo … She would be attacking a seagull or ruining someone’s day without a leash. Crazy Ruca … but she sure is cute. 

Haley, taking it in. 

Molls got to be off-leash for a bit. After several trips to the coast, we still aren’t sure if she loves or hates the ocean. She is brave though! 

 

This is about 5 seconds before Haley fell all the way in … twice. 

It really was a magical day! This was the last post from my dad’s trip here. We have 1 or 2 more with Haley still to come. I LOVED having my dad here to see what we love so much about this place!

 

 

 

Our Beach Adventure :: Cannon Beach, July

I have a crap-ton of beach posts coming to the blog … Poor planning on my part that I didn’t divide it up, but each trip was cool … and this is our blog, so we do what we want! :)

A couple weekends ago, we felt like driving to the coast. We packed up the dogs & headed to Cannon Beach for some sunshine & a picnic. Of course, it wasn’t as warm as we thought it would be, but it was totally worth the trip.

Dad’s Visit :: The Gorge

On my dad’s birthday, we headed out to the Columbia River Gorge. It’s one of our very favorite places on earth & we wanted to share it with him!

J standing in front of Bridal Veil Falls (my VERY favorite place in Oregon) … 

This girl got $20 to strip down to her underwear & lay in the FREEZING water. This is like … glacier water. It’s COLD! She said it wasn’t worth it, ha. 

… and because we never shared our iPhone photos from that adventure, here they are!

Dad’s Visit :: Mt. Hood

**See, we promised we’d get better at blogging … Brace yourselves! We have a whole bunch of posts coming your way!**

So, remember about two months ago when my dad came to visit us?! Well, after procrastinating a bit, I finally got the photos edited & ready to share. We barely used our ‘fancy’ camera while he was here (it was way easier to use the iPhone), but we did get a few gems.

Here’s a bit from our little trip up to Mt. Hood!

Jonsrud Viewpoint is a definite favorite … a must see on the way up to the mountan.

We love this camera … My dad bought it over 20 years ago. I learned photography on this camera, and now we take it everywhere. So cool he could see us using it (film scans coming soon). 

The snow on the mountain was melting … Pretty cool to see how ‘naked’ it us under that snow!

Oh Trillium!! How we love you … 

Jimmy likes to make fun of Haley for her 13-year-old-silly-face in photos. He thought he’d join in.

Our Day With The Solars

**I’ll promise to be a better blogger … starting now**

A couple weeks ago, we hosted some great new friends while they were stopped in Portland. The Solars are on a cross-country road trip … with three kids … who are under 8 years old! We decided since we only had a day with them, we’d hit up as many of our favorite spots as possible. We made it on a little hike, to Skyline Restaurant, the Audubon Society, the waterfront, and Council Crest. Here’s a bit of our adventure!!

Since I documented the rest of the day with my phone, you should check out the post from Josh & Jenny about their trip here. You’ll see their littlest who decided to eat a snack while locked in our dog’s crate. I love kids! … and we really love the Solars!!