"The Coast"

Every August, for the past 20 years, Fisher's 90-something Grandpa drives 1000 miles to where the Columbia River empties into the Pacific Ocean to fish the salmon run. Nothing can prevent this trip (I do mean that - not even weddings or deaths). I think grandpa lives for his two weeks out at the coast. When Fisher interviewed for his job, it was agreed that he could have this week off to come back and go to "The Coast". I was more excited for the Fisher coming home part than the actual fishing part!

We loaded the car with camping gear, snacks, and kids and made the 13 hour drive to Ilwaco, Washington. We stopped overnight in Tri-cities and the following day at Multinomah Falls (below).
I spent most days in camp which was within walking distance of the beach! We could hear the waves crashing as we fell asleep each night. Curly and Lou had lots of fun playing in the sand. Curly's Grandpa showed her how to cast with a child size pole and she thought it was great - like father, like daughter.


Poor Lou woke up with a bug bite right between her eyes that swelled until she looked like a Star Trek character (I am not a trekie so I can't tell you which).
I went out on the boat fishing one day. I love the ocean and took tons of pictures....until I got sick. In between puking I managed to catch a few big, beautiful, salmon. My plan was to document the whole fishing experience - but all my attention was focused on keeping breakfast down - a battle I lost to the rolling sea.

That's my fisher!

Grandpa Lake doing what he loves!

It turned out to be a good fishing year and we came home with lots of yummy salmon!

We spent the last day sight-seeing. We picked blueberries and checked out the Long Beach kite festival.

Grandpa took all the kids on a short boat ride before the trip was over.

All good thing do come to an end and Fisher is back in Arizona. Only two more weeks until we move into our house! It's been nice for me to be able to spend a time with family and friends here and wrap up loose ends, but I have to say I am very excited to be with Fisher and in our own place.

If You Need a Laugh...

Fisher and I couldn't spend our anniversary together - but he sure did make me laugh with this one!

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Reader Request

Many friends have requested pictures of the house the we found in our mad house hunt.... So here you are. We are excited to move in around the beginning of September, until then we are vagrants... staying with family and living out of a suitcase.

There are three basic home colors in Phoenix - tan, dark tan, and light tan. :)

A high priority on our list - a home with a yard!

The title-less post

It's a lame title I know... but I have racked my brain for something clever and nothing comes... On to the post - Fisher and I are currently in Phoenix having a house hunt marathon - and I do mean marathon. We have looked at 60 homes in the past 2 1/2 days sweating profusely in the 110 degree heat. We found four that we liked enough to consider buying and process of elimination/someone else bidding first has helped us narrow it down to one - now we wait...

Our past week or so back in Utah was mostly filled with packing and trying to enjoy time together. Fisher will be staying in Phoenix to work, so he took Curly and Lou on outings everyday to ensure they won't forget him - which would be impossible. (This was also very helpful for me to be able to pack). Their "big" outing was a hike to "Surprise Lake". Looks beautiful to me!

The below picture makes me very sad because I long ago realized how much we will miss our sweet Grandma. We all love to visit Grandpa and Grandma upstairs. Grandma takes Lou for "rides" on her chair, gives her snacks, reads her stories... Curly loves to help bring in the milk delivery and newspaper. She loves reading stories with grandma and coloring with her special stencils. Grandpa will equally be missed by all of us with his tickling fingers for the girls and words of wisdom and humor for us ... Okay I better stop because this is making me cry (really). Anyway - Grandma was also very helpful with packing. She folded the many loads of laundry (something she has done for me for a long time).

Oh dear, another sad picture... maybe I should call this the tear stained post. Anyway - these pictures speak for themselves.

I need a tissue.

Lou is Two!

This week our sweet Lou turned two! After another busy week of traveling to Idaho for a family reunion, we celebrated her birthday by attending Free Family Day at the "This is the Place Park." She and Curly both rode a horse. I was surprised at how calmly Lou approached this, considering that she cries out in terror when anything small and furry comes within twenty feet of her (specifically dogs and cats). She rode that pony like a regular cow girl. Yee-Haw!

Not sure what she thinks about our singing :)

We also had a family party. Lou loved to respond to her birthday wishes with, "Happy Birthday Lou!" We have a "birthday hat" that looks like a cake. I haven't managed to put it away yet and as soon as Lou spots it she exclaims, "Happy Birthday Lou!" and happily puts it on her head. Mimicry seems to be her favorite sport these days and I am continually impressed with the sentences she is producing. It helps to have a big sister that fervently chatters all day. Lou also graduated out of the crib and onto the floor this week - we didn't want the little acrobat to fall and break her arm.

Our final party of the week was an annual traditional hot dog roast in Millcreek Canyon. We combined the roast with a July birthday party for Curly, Lou and two cousins who also have July birthdays. It was an enjoyable afternoon. I love being in the mountains and trees.
And lest you think all we do is party.... (though we have been doing a lot of that) This is our packing room - We have packed about a third of our possessions (I think) - mostly in the past three days.