Sunday, August 2, 2015

Escaping the Smoke

Oregon is going through a heat wave. So much that it was triple digits the last couple of days. And there are forest fires. Lots of them. So the air is all smoke. It is the worst I have ever seen. There are ashes covering our car and the sun looks pink. It has just started to cool down and hopefully we will have some wind/rain to blow this smoke away!

We wanted to do some camping but decided it wouldn't be good to breathe in the smoke all night. Instead, we made a peach cobbler on our back patio with the dutch oven from Mom and Dad. And, wanting to escape the smoke Saturday, drove up to Crater lake to get some fresh air. We stopped at the Rouge Gorge and Natural Bridge on the way home and enjoyed the scenery while eating tasty bbq along the river. It was a nice excuse to see more around us while escaping the ugly air.

Oregon tiene una ola de calor. Hace tanto calor que ha estado arriba de los 100 grados farengheit en los dias passados. Y hay muchos fuegos forestales. Entonces el aire ha estado lleno de smoke. Es de lo peor que yo visto. Hay cenizas en nuestro coche y el sol se ve rosa. Ya se empieza a refescrar un poco y esperamos que tengamos lluvia/aire para llevarse este smoke a fuera.

Quieriamos ir a acampar pero decidimos que no es bueno respirar el smoke toda la noche. En lugar, hicimos un "peach cobbler" en nuestro patio con el "dutch oven" de mis suegros. Y, quizimos  escapar el smoke el Sabado, manejamos a Crater Lake para el aire fresco. Visitimos la gargante del rio Rouge y el puente Natural de camino de regreso a casa y disfrutamos del rio comiendo bbq. Fue una buena excusa para explorar mas ceranos mientras escapabamos del aire contaminado. 
The sun at 9:00 am.
Yay for fresh peaches and sprite!
We still enjoyed it even though we ate it at home.
View of Crater Lake
View of one of the small waterfalls. Jamir is not impressed.
We brought our bikes and rode the pinnacles hike

Can you see the pinnacles?
Crater Lake, although beautiful, is crowded with tourists and traffic. Not our thing. We both enjoyed the Gorge and bbq much more. Most hidden gems are much better than crowded national parks.

The bbq was surprisingly good! We ate along the river-I enjoyed watching a golden retriever play in the water :)
Hard to capture the coolness of the gorge. Basically its a rock canyon with high pressure water flowing through it. So pretty.


Cool cave formed by lava tubes


And...these pictures are old, but I never posted them and thought they were cute of Jamir. We fished at Diamond Lake with the familia Torres a Saturday in June. Jamir was the only one who caught a fish. It was a hard day for fishing so we heard. Jamir thought his fish was pretty big until we came back to land and saw what others caught (it was a contest :). It was still fun and beautiful, and we enjoyed some fried fish made by Jamir later.




Feeling proud

Little Briana wanting me to take her picture 
She insisted on taking ones of me :) I think she went for an artsy look.
Cleaning the fish. I didn't stay in that room very long.
Jamir did a good job. It was very flavorful.

Sunday, July 12, 2015

4th of July 2015

We headed to Elko for 4th of July weekend to see Cam for the first time since he came back from his mission. We also got to meet Emmy for the first time and spend some time with family. It's nice that we live only a day's drive away. We rock climbed in Lamoille canyon, ate hot dogs at the grove, rode in Dad's car in the parade and watched Elko's fireworks. Excited to see Jenna and Sam in Oct for another trip!

Fuimos a Elko por el fin de semana del 4 de Julio a ver Cam por premera vez desde que regreso de su mission. Tambien conocimos a Emmy por premera vez y pasar un tiempo con la familia. Escalamos en  Canyon Lamoille, comimos hot dogs en la arboleda, paseamos en el coche de Papa en el desfile, y vimos los cohetes/fuegos artificiales de Elko. Emocionados a ver Jenna y Sam en Octubre por otro viaje. 
Cam showing me how he asks girls on a date.
I think this pose might work better.

Ready to rappel down at Lamoille.



Cam trying his hand at rock climbing




About to do the splits
Lots of lizard friends
Go Cam go!


At the top

Happy Emmy at the grove


Ready to ride in the parade.

The horse looks concerned
Looking cool with British glasses and shirts in the parade.
Acting like celebrities.
"don't spray me!"
But sad when he stopped.
Post parade pop sickle break
Hyrum and his minion cupcakes. He didn't eat much, just liked to have one on his plate

Dad explaining about minions. Hyrum liked the stickers from everone else's shirt-he stuck it on his own.

I had a learning experience trying to capture fireworks. I will be much better next time.
Family pics before we head out.

"Make a face like Carter"

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Applegate Lake

We had a little time on Saturday to enjoy Applegate Lake after a long week. It was so nice to relax, swim, and enjoy the warm air.

Canopy courtesy of mom and dad.

Still have that canned tuna. And we aren't tired of it yet.


It was some much needed relaxation.
The water was a nice warm. We swam across to the other side...I got really tired-haven't swam in a while.


Being a boy and hitting rocks with a stick. 

We stopped to visit the McKee Historic bridge on the way back. I've been wanting to see it. There is one in Eagle Point, but not as picturesque.



Beautiful view.