Deschutes 2014

I'm attempting to write a blog post for an event that I did not attend. I will see what I can do then I will have Max revise it. 

Three weeks ago Max left for a week long family rafting trip. I did not attend because I am not ready to leave Miles for a full week. Max is one of the main oarsmen so he is vital on these trips and he has been rafting every year for as long as he can remember (minus the two years serving his mission)

I don't like being apart from Max AT ALL but I do love to see him happy and get a much deserved break to do something he enjoys so much. ( I did have to remind myself of this multiple times while he was gone) I also really like reuniting with him when he comes home. I feel like it is a small version of the time I returned home from mission and seeing each other for the first time in 3 years.  

Anyway, the point of this post is to document Max's family rafting trip. I was impressed with how many pictures Max took but even then, most of these pictures come from Lisa who does an excellent job capturing every family event. 

They were able to go on the Deschutes river this year. I was somewhat excited because this is the closest river and Max usually ends up driving after rowing on the river all day and he has a hard time staying awake. Anyway, Their plan was to come back on Friday but just as I was saying my last goodbye to Max he mentioned they may be staying until Saturday...What?! Haha, I would have no way of knowing if they were staying until Saturday until I find out that he didn't show up at home on Friday. It's a little crazy being apart for a week with no contact. Anyway, I keep making this post about me and I wasn't even there...moving on.

By some miracle they got on the road earlier than usual and got to the river when it was still light out. There was time to set up and load the boats as much as possible before making dinner and setting up camp for the night.  

They were able to have a nice evening and sleep under the stars. The next morning they went to work packing up their gear and loading up the boats. 

He probably got a lot more sleep than usual since I wasn't there to wake him up at the crack of dawn. ( I never sleep well while camping)

Brayden rode on Max boast a bunch and so did Lisa and August

After the first day of going down the river they got to set up camp and stay in one place for awhile.

In camp therer were several hikes. One was to the jumping rock where they would jump off and then float down the river back to camp.

While they were on the river there were some wild fires nearby. It got pretty hazy and smokey each afternoon. I'm glad I didn't know this until after Max was home safe...I would have worried quite a bit. I guess it's comforting to know that there were a couple firefighters on the trip. 

They were protecting themselves from breathing the smoke.

August caught a fish which I can only assume was PRETTY EXCITING!

Our River Grandma! She turns 80 this month!

Another fun camp game is sand bowling!

Another hike on this river is going up to the flag. A large group went up. 

It can be a pretty strenuous hike and Grandma Annette made it!

Jeremy and Max helped Annette down the mountain because her knees were giving her quite a bit of trouble! But she made it!

More camp games. 

On Thursday evening a park ranger came to tell the family that the fires were getting close and they would need to evacuate the area as soon as possible. they quickly started packing up all their gear but decided it was too late to go on the river because it was nearly dark. The whole family slept on the bank and everyone spent a ton of time saturating the land around them. 

There was a helicopter that came really close to gather water in a bucket to help tame the fire. 

The whole family got a whole bunch closer all sleeping in the same area.

They were able to get on the river by 8am which is a rafting record.

They got to the take out by noon and proceeded with the huge amount of work of unloading everything and packing it up in the cars. 

I'm so glad that you got this picture Lisa! Teamwork at its finest.

After all the hard work was done they got to go to the Oasis restaurant for burgers and shakes which is always so appreciated after a week in the heat.

Then came my favorite part. Because they left so early Max got home by 8pm. I had no idea that we would be home so early or even that day. I knew that even if he did come home Friday, it would be pretty late. So I was pretty excited to see him pull up with flowers in hand as I was getting the boys ready for bed. I love being reunited with him and I loved hearing all the fun he had on the trip and seeing his tan and scruffy body was a bonus! He helped me finish getting the kids ready for bed and we enjoyed the rest of the evening together.

The next day there is always more work getting all the gear cleaned up and dried out so Max was gone a chunk of the day working on that.

It looks like they are all modeling here.

They went out to lunch so I loaded up the boys and we met them there. It was fun hearing all the rafting stories and made me a little sad that I didn't go this year. 

Oh, and I don't know why these pictures showed up down here but these are pretty impressive of all the rafts going through boxcar (right?)

Max's Boat

Brent and Mitch's boat...they flipped!

I think this is Uncle Max's boat. They got a little wet.

And that's it. Now I get to continue blogging about things I was actually present for!

Blueberries

For family night this week we went blueberry picking. I've been wanting to go for weeks now but couldn't get myself to go alone with two kids so we waited for a time when Max could go with us. (he was gone all last week rafting, which will be another blog post.) Good thing we did too, we were able to get a whole bunch more blueberries, not to mention we got to enjoy this handsome man's company.  

We heard about this farm from our friend Marissa, it is a couple properties away from where her parents live. The picked berries were less than a dollar a pound! And we were free to fill up on as many as we wanted during the picking process. 

This was the perfect family night for Charlie. He filled up on healthy berries, contributed his own picking skills, he got to be outside, and the terrain was too rough and prickly for him to run away .Perfect! 

There was only one other couple in the fields and Charlie decided that he was going to be supper chatty and help them pick berries. I was kind of surprised, he's usually not much of a social bug but he just wouldn't stop talking. They loved it. 

I've been eating berries all day and my mouth still waters looking at this picture.

Charlie's bucket! He found some blackberry bushes too and he has the scrapes on his legs to prove it!

Taking a rest! 

I love blueberries. I may have mentioned the following story on my blog before but I'm going to tell it anyway. My absolute favorite summer childhood memory was swimming at my grandma's house. She had an above-ground pool that was surrounded by lush blueberry plants. I spent nearly everyday of summer swimming and eating blueberries. Then I would go inside and eat homemade chocolate chip cookies. It was the good life I tell ya! 

We came home with about 12 pounds of blueberries and we sure are enjoying them. An evening well spent!

Charlie Boy

Charlie hasn't had his own update blog post in awhile. I think he needs one. So this is his 2 year 8  month update.

Charlie is about 33 pounds.  I'm not sure how tall he is.
He is just about as sturdy as a 2 year old little boy can be. He is constantly running and jumping and his solid thighs are proof of that.

Charlie has no fears and unlimited excitement for life.  Sometimes this leads him to leave the house without my permission. He doesn't usually get far before he's caught and disciplined but oh man...he's a free spirit.

We have started doing timeouts with Charlie as needed and it has proven to be much more effective than I expected. He will stay on the bottom stair and by the end of two minutes he has usually calmed and is ready to go on to the next thing.

His eating has become more picky recently. But then again, sometimes he surprises us and suddenly eats something that he had been refusing.

If being outside is an option Charlie will run with it. (literally) This kid loves being outside and I'm so grateful we are able to live in a place that accommodates that.

He has also decided that he really likes books and now that I can understand his speaking it is fun to hear him tell the story.

Charlie definitely took his time starting to speak but recently it seems he has been putting everything together. He is developing coherent thoughts and being able to verbally communicate them. I love this, partially because hearing a toddler speak is pretty adorable but mostly because I now have a better glimpse into what Charlie thinks and understands.

So here are some funny things that Charlie has said that bring joy to us.

Yesterday I was in the garage looking for some nails to hang some pictures. Charlie was standing in the doorway watching me. I told him that I was looking for nails for our pictures. He then looked at his hands and said "I found nails on Charlie"

A couple weeks ago Charlie was searching through the Home Depot bag and looking at supplies that Max had brought home. He found a door knob still in its package and brought it to us and said it's a new door bob, He then got to help Max install it on his bedroom door and he seems pretty proud of his new door bob.