Oregon Trip- Crater Lake

We have wanted to visit the Oregon Coast for a while now and decided this was the year to do it. We packed up and headed across Oregon and down the coast for over two weeks... yes, camping the entire time. It was so amazing, or "epic" as Travis describes it. Definitely a trip everyone needs to take. Due to the crazy amount of pictures I took, there will be a series of posts of our trip and of course, there will be LOADS of pictures.


For our first stop, we drove across Oregon to Crater Lake National Park. I didn't think the drive was that bad and the minute we got our first view of Crater Lake, it was worth it. This lake definitely takes your breath away. It is so unique and indescribably blue. And it's even cooler that it is a collapsed volcano and has no inlets or outlets. We had to pull over and take it all in. We also could not believe the many feet of snow on the ground... on June 27th. Crazy. We were sure there would be less snow at the campground that was lower- wrong. It was so hard to find a campsite with enough snow melted to put up our tent and table cover. People were seriously camping and sitting around fires on 4 feet of snow. And I definitely need to mention the MOSQUITOES. Now as you know, we camp a lot and are used to these pesky creatures. But nothing compared to the ones here in Crater Lake. Apparently, this spring was abnormally cold, so instead of the snow melting, they got a lot more snow. So, with the late snowpack came these crazy snow mosquitoes that are usually gone by now along with the snow. It was like constantly being in a swarm of them and they were HUGE. I had a dozen bites after being outside the car for 3 minutes- no joke. So, luckily Travis is a rock star at getting the tents up fast while I covered the girls in lots of clothes and Deet, lots and lots of Deet. We were so happy to have our screened-in table cover, it was a life saver. Luckily the mosquitoes died down during the day so that we could enjoy the breathtaking, pure lake. Just add Crater Lake to our many beloved national parks that we have visited.

Friends Campout

All of Travis's friends got together for a little camping outing in June. We camped right outside of Logan and had so much fun. We laughed so hard around the campfire. These guys are all so funny and have quite the stories to tell. We were up until 2 in the morning, which is late for us old fogies. There were a lot of kids (10 girls and only 3 boys) and they all had a great time together. Makenna didn't want to leave and said, "But when will we see my friends again?" We definitely need to all get together more often.

On our way back from camping, we decided to take the girls by the Logan temple to show them where we got married which was perfect because our 8th anniversary was on Monday. It was fun to return with our little family. I am so grateful that this amazing man took me to this special place 8 years ago.

Sawtooth Relay

Travis and I ran in the Sawtooth Relay a few weeks ago. This was my second year doing it and like a good wife, I signed Travis up for it too. It was fun to do it together and to have something to work towards since running isn't necessarily our favorite thing to do.  Our team consisted of (in the running order): Travis, Heather, Angie, Morgan, Kristi, and Gary. Travis was the first runner at 1:45 a.m. and I was after him at 2:30. It was freezing (we could see our breath the entire time), but we ended up getting plenty warm and the night was so clear that we had an amazing view of the Milky Way above the jagged peaks. Our other team members were my sister, her boyfriend, and my two cousins. We seriously had so much fun and laughed all night. I have the funniest family. We had a big black commercial "molester" van that we filled with foam pads and sleeping bags. It was sa-weet though we felt like we should be enticing kids with candy or something. Ha, ha. We were happy with our times and finished much faster than last year. This was Travis' first running event and he made great times and after his 6 mile run uphill, he said "I am just warmed up, I could keep going." Crazy guy. We didn't have any rain this year which was super nice. We were definitely glad we did it but are glad to be done with it as well.

Dancing Queen...

 Makenna's just finished up her first year of dance and she loved it. She took ballet and tap and learned a lot. She is such a petite and graceful dancer. Her coordination is improving. (Sorry Makenna, you unfortunately got that from me.) She was the smallest and youngest in her class, and therefore, the cutest. ;) Okay, I probably am a little biased. She had her first big recital on Saturday and did GREAT! This girl is always full of surprises. If you know Makenna, you know that she is shy and timid, which is one of the main reasons we put her in dance. But, not to get on stage!  She wasn't nervous at all to get up in front of an auditorium full of people. She just smiled and even waved. I guess she is a little performer. She had a lot of fans there and we were all so proud of her. It's got to be great to be so loved.

We did her hair very ballerina like. There were 15 rubberbands! She looked like a "Petite Ballerina" just like the song she danced to.

My mom, my sister, Becky, and CassieAnn all came to support her. I think she felt very special. Grandma Becky and Aunt Cassie even brought her a real rose which she coveted in her room the following week.

Sisterly Love

Makenna and Hadley really love each other.... well, 99% of the time. It is so fun to watch them together. They really are great little friends/sisters. Makenna definitely takes on the roll of taking care of Hadley, but loves having someone to play with and boss around at the same time.  Hadley, on the other hand,  does everything she can to get Makenna to be adventurous and laugh until she cries. They really balance each other out. It amazes me how two little girls with the same genetic make-up can be so entirely opposite of each other. But, it makes it fun too. Having a sister is the best!

How did we get from this to this so fast?