[no title comes to mind]

Nate and I began driving down 224 past Estacada on Friday, July 21, in hopes of finding the most fantastic camping spot ever. The drive was gorgeous--224 ran alongside the Clackamas River, so we were in the shade of the canyon for the most part, sufficiently escaping the triple digit weather. We headed toward Detroit Lake Campground, knowing that the chances of finding a spot at the last second were slim to none. Honestly, that worked well for me, because I don't like swimming in lakes. Hate the deep, dark, unknown water. Love rivers, though!













We passed innumberable campgrounds on our way to Detroit, many which we thought it would be fun to just drive through. Well, we got to Detroit Lake and it was packed to overflowing. We turned around and stopped at the first campground we came to: Breitenbush. Fantastic! We took the first spot we saw (after a quick zoom through the small campground) and set up camp. There was a path through the underbrush around our campsite, and it crossed through our campsite, but not many people used it. I "stared" them away:) Some people ignored my glares and tromped right past us in our little chairs right next to the fire pit. That was just strange.


The clearing in the trees let us watch the sun pass over without ever pounding down on us...it was marvelous! Our first night was very humid, but we bore it without too much complaint. Well, mutual grumbling to be honest, but we were mostly too excited about being on vacation to whither in the heat.



Our site was right on the river. The weather was nice and sticky when we began setting up house, but we found that the air was incredibly cool down by the water. We took several breaks just to breath! The view was gorgeous.


We didn't set up the dinner canopy immediately...we thought we'd be just fine without it at first, but, as the sun shifted over our site, we realized that the added shade would be nice.


We struggled and struggled with that freakin' tent. Nate worked on laying it all out before setting it up; that took him around 1 and 1/2 hours, with small breaks to nap. Hey, we were on vacation. Anything goes. It took the two of us working together to erect the tent. And then we realized that it wasn't even square. Finally, after hours struggling in the heat, we got it up. But then the middle pole pierced through the top and the whole thing collapsed right on top of us. Ack. We eventually passed the point of frustration and had to laugh. Once we got the tent fixed, we were very glad, as the rainy weather that night would have soaked all of our stuff if we hadn't set it up.



The second day of our trip, after a lazy morning of lounging in the pleasant sun, cooled by the rain the night before, we hopped in the truck and drove into Detroit.

When we got back to the campsite, we sat down by the river for awhile and enjoyed the view. And, here's the proof: I'm in a picture that I didn't take! Surprise!


We wandered around along the water for quite some time, enjoying its frigid temperatures, which brought out it's clarity. It was rushing past us, and as it kept flowing, it brought a fog with it. Something about cold water and hot air, I'm sure.




Nate and I enjoyed sitting around with each other with nothing to do, nothing demanding our time...it was glorious! We talked about everything from our honeymoon experience to our work the day before we left on our camping trip. It was so wonderful to just talk! As we were talking we spotted an eagle swooping along the river. We watched him fly past us with a fish in his talons and then soar to the top of a tree into an enormous nest where babies fluttered to the edge to meet him. We spotted him (or her, I guess) again later that night.

And even the next morning! We spent our last day enjoying breakfast and then packing up to go home. It was wonderful coming home, but so sad to leave our beautiful camping spot! We can't wait to go back, and soon! Soon it will be, too...




Here are some miscellaneous pictures that I liked well enough to include here...









[Nate's in the background, I promise.]

Just a small taste

I'm working on organizing pictures for our camping trip, but here's a shot to hold you over.

Frankie the Girl

--is our new cat! She's so sweet! She's three years old, or so. Nate's cousin gave her to us-Frankie had been staying with Nate's aunt, uncle, and grandma-so we brought her home last night. We had her in the laundry room so that she could orient herself to a new home, but she figured out a way to push on the door hard enough to open it...One thing to note, though, the door opens into the laundry room, so she had to bounce the door until it swung enough so she could squeeze through. She's a genius!








And then there's us...Nate is so handsome:)

A scary moment in time

You know how it is. You go off to college and your parents immediately move your stuff out of your room. When you come home to visit, you don't even have a closet.

I protected my room fiercely while I was at school...and my family still teases me endlessly. Mom and Dad sent me this picture when Rae Ann was pregnant with Stella and I was still at school. It's worth a thousand words.



They think they're hilarious.

Another bit done...

We're making progress on the house, slowly but surely! Here are a few pictures of Nate hard at work on the house. Ricky was kind enough to help him get some work done one day.





At this point, the ceilings are all painted; now we're just picking out house colors! We thought we'd made a decision, but, um, no, indeed we hadn't. Opinions keep changing. But, that's alright, we'll get it figured out. Nate and I are planning a house warming party for August, so we've given ourselves a time frame in which to accomplish all of our innumerable and daunting tasks.



Believe it or not, I'm standing in the loft taking this picture. The tip of Nate's extension pole ended like three inches from the camera.



Oh, such a mess...









It'll be so exciting to post more pictures as we go along!

Next up...a cat. Coming to a home near you very soon...

Another California Trip in '06

Back in June, Nate and I drove down to Fresno, CA, to spend the weekend with his extended family on his mom's side. Grandma and Grandpa Moser had had their 50th wedding anniversary back in September 2005, but family couldn't coordinate to celebrate with them until the summer time. Keith and Georgia flew out from Louisville, KY, with their son Nick (Amy stayed back in TN), Rick, Karen, and Stephen drove down together for a week-long trip, Nate and I drove down for the weekend, and Ricky drove down for a day. Raymond, Tami, Stuart, and Mallory all live in Clovis, so we met up with them a few times.

(In case you're not overly familiar with Nate's family layout, Ernest and LaVene Moser are parents to Karen, Keith, and Raymond.)

It was a record-breaking heat wave that weekend! One day reached 110 degrees...We were so lucky to have air conditioning! Especially on the drive. Nate's mom let us borrow her car for the trip.

Here's Nate talking to his dad on the phone. Rick was telling Nate that we couldn't go straight to his grandparents' house; instead, we had to take the car to the carwash first, then we would be welcome to go over. Nate's not happy in this picture.



We found out later that the family was trying to detain us so they could find a banner that said happy anniversary. They wanted to congratulate us on our upcoming 1 year anniversary. Rick told Nate this that night, but Nate didn't tell me until the drive home, after I had given Rick a hard time about being picky with his cars...Isn't that lovely?! At least we can laugh about it now:)

One of the days we were in California, we drove out Aunt Wilma's house (Grandma's sister). She lives out in the boonies, not exactly sure where. We spent a great deal of time shooting pellets, oh-so-fun! She had two little dogs, Toby (the blonde) and a stray who had no name. She was a sweet girl, though!



Here are some pictures of the family shooting pellet guns. It was stinkin' hot outside, but not so unbearable we couldn't have a good time!









We had a BBQ to celebrate the grandparents, which was hosted by Ray and Tami. Karen has some family photos...which I will be stealing from her soon:) They were good pics!

On Sunday, the Keith Mosers took off in the early, early morning for the airport, and Rick and Karen hit the road sometime around 8:30am. Ricky, Stephen, Nate, and I joined Grandma and Grandpa for Sunday services with their Church of Christ family. After church, Grandma and Grandpa took us kids out for lunch at Macaroni Grill and then we parted ways.

Nate and I followed Ricky and Stephen for awhile as we headed North; we made a stop at the In 'n' Out Burger in Redding and then drove on toward Weed, CA. On the way, we all stopped by Lake Shasta and played around on the shore for a little bit. It was so beautiful...and very, very full!

Rick and Karen had gotten a room at the Comfort Inn in Weed; Rick had a horrible migrane, so they needed to take some time to rest. Nate and I elected to stay overnight with them in Weed, and then we drove the last few hours of the trip home on Monday. Here's a picture of Mt. Shasta, right outside our bedroom window...



All in all, it was a great trip, which we will be making again in December. Wahoo!