Lounging

One thing that I forgot to miss about northern California, is the granite.  I love it for some reason. One thing I like is that it makes convenient benches for you in the middle of nowhere.  Here I am waiting on a granite chair for the rafts to take off.  

It was quite comfortable and great for people watching.  It was a pretty cool camp surrounded by hills and oak grasslands.  The smell was so familiar.  It took me right back to my past life.  I felt nostalgic but I am not sure exactly about what.  I guess it is just strange looking back on my life and seeing how much things have changed.  That's enough about that!  :]

A Rafting Trip in NorCal

This weekend, some students from Jason's medical class and I are headed up to Coloma to do some whitewater rafting.  We are really excited to get to go up north.  I spent a lot of my growing up years very near Coloma.  It has been about 5 years since I have really been back.  Strange to think about that.  I would be more excited if Jason and I could go around and I could show him my old houses and schools and whatnot but we are carpooling so alas, not this time.  Here is Jason getting my sweater on one of our carpooling stops to stretch.  What a gentleman!

We are rafting with a company called Mariah Wilderness Expeditions.  We are doing a 2 day rafting trip on the American River.  This first day we will be doing the lower part  of the South Fork and the second day we will be doing the upper part.  There should be some good class 3 rapids so we are excited.  There first time I had ever been rafting was on the lower part of this river so it will be interesting to see if I remember anything.  I will let you know how everything goes!

Commencement Banquet

This next week, Jason officially starts his third year of medical school! That means an end to book work and beginning to clinical experience. To celebrate this momentous occasion, the school puts on a commencement banquet. It was at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the San Bernardino mountains. Of course the food was amazing and that is what I cared about the most.


Jason was going to wear and green shirt and brown canvas shoes even after I showed him the gold and black dress I was planning to wear, which prompted me to ask him, "What? Are you going to the forest?" He smartly changed to match me better, drawing the line at a gold tie saying, "I'm not going to match you THAT obviously." Anyway, I thought he looked very handsome. We had a wonderful time.

Class of 2010 Haiti Project

Last year, many people from Jason's class went on mission trips around the world.  Jason went to Papua New Guinea for a month.  The class came back with a vision to really make a difference in a long term way.  So the class of 2010 has decided to adopt a hospital in Haiti.  They are going to raise money to really make a difference in the way of hospital equipment, surgery subsidies, and start up some money making project on the hospital grounds.  It is quite an exciting project that I get fired up about every time I go to one of their meetings.  Today was one of those meetings.  Here some of the students are gathering around looking at some surgery pictures.   

If you are interested in learning more about the project, you can go to their website here.

Olive Garden

We are home but all the food in the refrigerator is rotten and neither of us have had the time to grocery shop. So, we went out to eat!! Olive Garden was our choice and for the first time ever, I chose the soup and salad over a pasta dish. Surprisingly, I was pretty full after I finished. I guess the breadsticks and never-ending salad helped with that.....

Wilted Hopes

Well, I had hoped that all my plants had made it through the 100 degree weather with no water while we were gone but my blood orange tree didn't look too good when we got back. I gave it a thorough watering and it has mostly revived but some leaves just fell listlessly off the branches.


In happier news, it is my mom's birthday today! Happy Birthday! I don't have a picture of her here because she is in London for the first time. I am sure she is having more fun than if she were here.

The Long Car Ride

So today we started our trek back to CA.  Our vacation was fun!  But of course tiring, especially for Mosey who wasn't used to dogs keeping up with him.  He slept the whole way back.  Here he is in his new car seat (you can't really see it).

Floating the Deschutes

Today Jason, Payton and I went floating down the Deschutes River.  Every summer that we visit Bend we try to do at least one float.  This year, Payton was big enough to have her own innertube!  The water was nice and high so we got through a lot quicker this time.  Very refreshing! 

Silly Monkey

Jason's mom Myla, decided to give Payton's bath time a shot of monkey blood.  This is how she decorated to get the effect.  There was also a monkey head rug.  Very cute!  

Playing with Wii

I really like playing the Nintendo Wii.  Today we went over to Matt & Michelle's house to play Mariokart.  Quite fun.  My nephew is really good too!  He beat me every time and he is like... 3!  That is him next to me but he asked to remain anonymous until he could showcase his talent to the entire world.  

Strawberry Picking

The first time I ever mentioned going to a U-pick to Jason, he said, "Naw, if they want our business, they should pick the fruit for us!"  I calmly and reasonably explained that I actually enjoy it and I wanted to pick even if it was the same price as pre-picked.  He looked at me in astonishment and I wondered if we were even meant to be...

4 years later, picture Jason, calf high in a strawberry field frolicking and sighing with pleasure at the sight of such abundant red berries.  Yes, we went strawberry picking today.  I don't think I have ever gotten to U-pick strawberries before but it was nice.    I think it was only $1/lb.  But I don't remember because I didn't really care about the price.  I think I paid $3 for all these strawberries!  I am very happy as you can see!

On Sand and Surf

Today we had a great family outing.  We went to Saugatuck which is a town on the central western coast of Michigan.  First took a sand dune ride.  It was pretty fun!  We sat in this 15 passenger truck thing and screamed around the sand dunes.  I was surprised we didn't slide out of control or anything.  We stopped a couple of times to look at the view and to run down a really steep part.  Here I am about to run down.  You can tell it is going to be pretty intense by the mom and baby going right before me.  

After our sand dune journey, we got lunch at a nearby farm.  They had great homemade apple doughnuts!  Then we rented a pontoon boat and cruised around on some nearby water.  Excuse me for not knowing what the water was called.  I was too busy having fun.  :]  Here I am after I stole Lily from her mommy, Danelle.  

She actually isn't asleep in the picture.  I guess she just is soaking in the comfort that life jackets can bring.  We ended the day with cones from Dairy Queen.  An absolutely perfect day!

Katrina and Adam

The wedding day dawned beautifully. The grass was startlingly green, the sky was deep blue and everything was going swimmingly. Below is the chapel and the bride.


During the wedding the weather stayed nice but as soon as it was over, boy did we ever get it. There were a couple spaces between clouds where we got some nice pictures but unfortunately the reception was rained out. We spent most of the time inside for that even though it was meant to be an outdoor reception. Oh well. I think everyone was happy so that is what matters!Congrats to the happy couple!

Bachelorette Party

Jason and I flew to Michigan to go to his cousin, Katrina's, wedding. We got there in time for the very classy and fun bachelorette party put on by my good friend (and Katrina's sister) Danelle. I know you are expecting raunchy pictures of unmentionable underwear games but I found the most photogenic sight to be Danelle's daughter, Lily. Here are some of the best shots I got.

Off to Michigan

Today we are leaving Bend to travel to Michigan to visit the other side of Jason's family.  Before we left.  I took a picture of Jason and Mosey on the deck where Mosey will spend most of his days for the next week while we are gone.  We are really going to miss him but I am sure Jason's mom will take really good care of him!