Oregon, Hydrangeas & Blackberries

My mom and I went to Oregon to visit some extended family and had a wonderful time! I got to meet some of her cousins that I had never met before and also some of their children.

We went a day early to stay with Jodi and see her darling house and it was indeed darling! I follow her blog and she posts pictures of her house so that is how I knew it was darling.

The next day we drove to Seaside, Oregon, and stayed in a darling little beach house a couple blocks away from the beach. Mom was off and on for crying because she was so happy to see and catch up with her cousins. We certainly had our fill of delicious seafood - you have to! You just don't get fresh seafood in Utah like you do on the coast.

We walked along the promenade in Seaside a decent amount. I loved all the houses with the shakes and hydrangeas. And I really loved Cannon Beach, Oregon, which we got to see on our last day on our way to the airport.

Oh and the blackberries.... yeah, I could love Oregon for the wild blackberries. I pay $5 for a cup of blackberries in Utah... whereas in Oregon, I could pick them by the bucketfuls for free! Mmmmm.

Calf Creek

Dave and I, and my friends Jen and Tim, went down to Calf Creek this past weekend. We had heard that Lower Calf Creek was beautiful! And indeed it is!! 

We stopped in Boulder for dinner at Hell's Backbone Grill. The dinner was spendy, but divine! Dave and I shared a crooked squash and corn chowder and a meatloaf dinner. So so good. They cook everything from their own garden. And then we camped just off the highway and had the most amazing views of the milky way and stars I've seen in a long time.   

 

We hiked to Upper Calf Creek falls first thing in the morning and we are so glad we did since it was quite hot and exposed to the sun. And while we hiked, it was only in the 70s and still felt hot during the hike.  The falls was very pretty and worth the hike. 

But I'll say that the Lower Calf Creek Falls was much more spectacular than the Upper. The hike sure seemed longer than 3 miles though - maybe it's because we had to hike through sand the whole time. 

Then we stopped in the Boulder Mountains for an hour and fished at Pleasant Creek. Jen, Tim and I all caught cute little brook trouts but released them as well. And we stopped in Torrey for another spendy and delish dinner at Cafe Diablo.

We had beautiful weather! Couldn't have asked for a better weekend. And! I got my homework done ahead of time. Nice, huh? :)

Oh yeah, and we went a little crazy messing with the Loa, Utah dummy cop and car. Ha! 

 

Labor Day Weekend

Dave and I had a wonderful and very busy Labor Day weekend. I almost titled this post "Labor Day o' Love" but thought that might be a little cheesy. But I think I'm safe to say that we really are together and dating and having a great time at it. 

Friday night we cooked up the trout that we caught earlier that week up in American Fork Canyon and then we walked around the Downtown Gallery Stroll.

On Saturday, I drove up to his house and we joined his friends for a day at the lake - of boating, swimming, eating and jet-skiing. It was so fun! His friends were super nice. Afterward we went to his parent's house to have pizza and watch the BYU football game. His mom is a hoot!

Then Monday, we drove down to the Fairview area of Utah and drove around in the tops of the mountains there. We hiked up a beautiful little trail and fished along the way (Dave loves to fly-fish - loooooves it) and I would read my text books while he fished. He was so prepared! He had a super yummy lunch of sandwiches, string cheeses and dried fruit. He didn't have any luck catching fish at the river along our hike, so we stopped by a lake off the highway. That's where he began to teach me how to fly-fish. And on my first cast of my very own I caught the humongous cutthroat trout in the picture! Can you believe it?

Back to School

This past week was my first week back to school in 7 years. And I think I'm going to like it... a lot. I was worried about being in class for 5 hours straight and only being split between 2 classes, but the professors do a great job keeping class interesting and discussion-based ... at least so far. 

Orientation the week before was a little on the excessive side - three nights of 5-9! But it was better than expected. I really got excited for school because of it. Maybe that is its purpose?