Camping at Yellow Bottom on Quartzville Creek

My husband and I went camping, for the second time, at Yellow Bottom camp ground a few weeks ago. We have enjoyed it so much, I think we are going to start making a tradition.

 Looking up at giant trees is one of my absolutely favorite views in the world (second only to looking out to tree covered hills and mountains at sunset). This was my view from my chair at our campsite.

Our little tent. We have decided it is time for an upgrade! After being eaten alive by misquitos this year, we are getting a tent that has a little "entry way" area before the sleeping area, so we can set up a card table and play cribbage inside, and make it easier not to get dirt from our shoes in our bed.

 My parents came up to spend the day with us one of the days and brought our family dog.

 Remi had a blast. She never got out of the water the whole time. We thought her heart was going to give out because she just kept going!!

  Our swim area. Pretty much had the place to ourselves for 2 days!

 

 

I'm so glad my parents came and spent the day with us! It was so nice :)

I love this man.

Breakfast the next day. If it wasn't for Joel, I would probably only eat granola bars, hotdogs and baked potatoes when I go camping, haha! He's a little more ambitious about cooking on the camp fire than I am. Breakfast is especially great when Joel cooks.

Another awesome view of the trees from our swim hole.
My dad said that some of these trees were probably at least 200 years old!
One thing I love about camping is NO MAKEUP!! It feels refreshing to not have to worry about it.
This summer I have been enjoying going with less makeup quite often. Even for events that I would normally make myself up for, I've just been wearing mascara only. It's been nice!

 This is what we do: float & relax!

When you float in the water and look down, you see all kinds of interesting creatures.
I even sat still enough in the shallow water for little fishes to swim around me!

 Who needs to pay for a "fish manicure" like the Kardashian's, when you can get one for free in the creek? If you can stand it! It kind of freaks me out a little to have fish nibbling on my feet! Here's a little video where you can see the little fishes.

I love this picture. So beautiful Creekside is the best.

Following with tradition, we got a thunder and rainstorm toward the end of our camp trip. This time we were more prepared though!!
I'm always sad when we have to leave!
Being out in nature is so inspiring for me. I have so many ideas for painting and art pieces after this trip. Now is only I could hunker down and get to work on them!

Ah, country roads lead me home. Until next year Yellow Bottom!
Happy Thursday! :)

Exploring Eugene with Friends

A few weeks ago, I went to visit a dear friend down in Eugene. I haven't seen her since her baby shower last summer--so I got to meet her little guy too :) I haven't really ever spent much time in Eugene so it was fun to go out to a couple of places downtown. We had a wonderful girls day--complete with mimosas back at her place!

We ended up going to lunch at the 5th Street Inn/Market. Above is a picture of the Inn. Each little balcony has matching red patio sets on it. So pretty!

This is the courtyard of the shopping and cafe area. It definitely didn't feel like we were in Eugene! (PS I stole a couple of pictures from their facebook page because I didn't take any & I wanted to show you how pretty it is!)

My freind's boyfriend is a chef at Tres Mil, which is right through the red doors pictured above. We ate there. I had Pork Carnitas and they were delicious!

After lunch, my friend recommended Sweet Life Patisserie for dessert.

I had a piece of Mocha Orange Torte--it was sooo rich and delicious. It was fudgy with a light orange mousse filling. We also had strawberry Italian sodas.

Kelsey had Tiramisu.

and Kate had a gorgeous chocolate cupcake (with GLITTER on it!) and an adorable octopus cookie.

It was incredibly hot that day, so it was nice to have air conditioning (unlike at my home!).
I enjoyed the visit so much! Catching up, good food, mimosas, an adorable baby and sweet friends.
I hope it's not long before our next visit!

Happy Wednesday!

4th of July & Seaside Brewing Company

For the 4th of July, we went up to visit my Husband's family.

We helped take our twin nephews on the max to the parade.
They were so cute. They were so excited to be going on the "train. When first max came by they were just screaming at it because they were so excited. And then we had to tell them we weren't going on that and we had to wait for the next one. It was torture for them to have to wait! They love Thomas the train :)

The parade was fun. Lots of kids, lots of candy, lots of red, white and blue!

We both got pretty sunburned though! Our chairs were in the sun & I forgot the sunscreen!

I had a cute festive outfit, but I didn't get any pictures of it!

We spent the rest of the day at the pool with a bunch of our nieces and nephews. It was relaxing and refreshing! I really didn't even lay out like this for long, because it was way to hot! Pool and shade for me :)
The next day, we went up to Seaside to visit Joel's uncle. They guys went out to Golf and my mother-in-law and I went and looked in all the shops. We found one adorable home decor shop that was decorated beautifully and the gal working was a hoot! We also went into couple of cool antique shops. Lots of pretty things. The weather was beautiful! We just walked down to the ocean and back. Then we all had lunch together at the Seaside Brewing Company.

I didn't take any pictures, so I just stole some off of their facebook page. On their website, it says that this building used to be the city jail! The weather was way nicer than it is in this picture :)

This is the inside near the bar.

This is the second story. We went out that door on the left and ate lunch on the deck.
I had a Honey Badger Blonde, and fish tacos. It was delicious!!

See how sunny it was? Such a nice day!

What did you do for the 4th?
Happy Tuesday!

Dad's 60th Birthday Hawaiian Luau

My Dad turned 60 the week after July 4th, we celebrated his birthday around the 4th this year.

I've been wanting to throw a Hawaiian Luau for my Dad's bday for a while now. First of all, it's summer, why not?! Second of all, I remember when we went to Disneyland growing up, my Dad and my younger brother's favorite treat was the Pineapple Dole whips, so I wanted to make those part of the theme. Third, its an excuse to dress up for fun!

 

While not everyone in the family was inclined to dress up in theme, my Dad indulged for me :)

I bought these cute pineapple cups for our dole whips, as well as some pineapple paper lanterns. I had originally planned on hanging the lanterns up, but when I got them I found they only came in packs of 2, (for some reason I thought there were going to be 7? I guess I didn't read the description well!) so I didn't hang them up, I just set them out. I used this recipe for the Dole whip, and they turned out really good! I've never had one in Disneyland so I'm not sure if they tasted the same but I thought they were delicious :) 

My brother and his family. My nephew is so cute!

Being so close to the 4th of July we decided to take some patriotic pictures.

I made my mom hold a pineapple lantern with me for the picture they mad it in!

Parentals.

Me & the Hubby.

What I wore: Pineapple Tank: Old Navy (old, similar) // Shorts: Target (old) // Sandals: Target (girls)

Floral Headband: Forever21 (similar)

Sixty Candles! (not really though!)

Anyone have any fun parties this summer?
Happy Monday!

Oregon State University Grad Party + a Little Education on Crohn's Disease

I've realized that I have gotten behind on some of the events that have happened this summer. One being, that my youngest brother graduated from Oregon State University! My parents met at and graduated from OSU, and I got my masters there 2 years ago, so it was a big deal for my little brother to graduate with his bachelors in Political Science (same as my dad!). We are big time BEAVER BELIEVERS!

My younger brother Sam took some really cool grad pictures of Ed. Check out his instagram account for some more amazing pictures!

 After the ceremony it was pretty chaotic outside the stadium, so we weren't able to get one photo with all of us together, but this works!

 My parents hosted a party to celebrate afterward!

  I had to share this picture because my mom is really proud of these flowers!! They are so pretty :)

   Beaver Fanatics.

Dessert Table

This is just a shot of some of the people that came. There were lots more!

My mom and I had fun decorating. A lot of the decoration we had saved from my masters graduation party. The little OSU marquee lights are from Michael's crafts. They are paper and you put them together yourself. They come with the lights and you can pick out what color paper you want. *Disclaimer* I had a pretty difficult time getting the paper to fit perfectly into the letters. Even tracing the templates I had to do a ton of trimming and adjusting to make it fit with the holes so the lights could get through.

It was a wonderful evening and I am so proud of my brother. Our "little beaver" is all grown up.

I have to share, my brother is affected with Crohn's Disease, which is an autoimmune disease. It causes inflammation of the digestive tract. It started in middle school, and took the doctors a really long time to find out what was going on with him. In the mean time, he was throwing up everything he ate. What I remember most about that time, is that despite the fact that he couldn't even keep down his lunch, Ed DID NOT want to miss school. I remember thinking he was crazy because if I had an opportunity to miss school, then I took it! Finally they were able to diagnose him, but it has been a continuing struggle for him. It seems as though there is still a lot unknown about Crohns. He has done so much, despite feeling miserable much of the time.

I'm sharing this now because as he has started his new job, and moved away from home, he is having HORRIBLE flare ups. He is training to become an assistant manager at a retail chain, and he has to work, sometimes 7 days a week, sometimes night shift, sometimes unloading trucks. Now imagine doing all of that with everything horrible happening to your digestive system.
If you pray, please pray that God will place a healing hand on him, if only to help him get through this week until he can make it to a specialist on his day off. 

For more information on Crohn's Disease visis crohnsandcolitis.com.
Please pray!!