The Dechutes River

Dechutes Oregon!

This weekend Ben and I went to Maupin, Oregon and went down the Dechutes River. We were planning on going, but not until Saturday morning--Friday evening at 9:30 he turns to me and says, "do you want to go tonight and go camping? " So, we drove to the John Day campsite and slept in the car on an air mattress! We had such a great time. Rob Mackley joined us in Maupin and rode the river with us. He is great to have on the river...I had my little sit-on-top kayak (not really meant for Class III or Class IV rapids, but I made it through). Ben did great on his whitewater canoe--he always gets looks and comments from people--"are you really going to go down in that thing?" He just smiles and explains that it is meant for whitewater. He looks like a big banana going down a slope of vanilla Ice cream. The best part is when he "boofs" off of a wave, which is when you allow the boat to ride the wave to the top and then fly off like a skier off of a jump.

Ben also got a water-proof camera for his birthday so we can take it on our water trips without fear of it getting wet. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Enjoy!

Ben's New Canoe

I know this is going backwards a bit, but about a month ago Ben got a beautiful new Whitewater Canoe. I have to admit I was a bit nervous, but it has been the source (and will continue to be) of many fun outings. I didn't know if I would like it, but after getting used to how she works in the water, I love playing with her....I don't know that I will ever get as good as Ben, but hopefully I can hold my own in some class three white water (thats my goal)

Idaho River

So blogging is not my strongest talent....I get so busy I forget to record what we are doing in our lives. This past week we went to Idaho and visited both sets of family. It was a great trip. Just a few pictures from the river trip in Swan Valley. Ben has talked about this river since I met him. I have never been down with him--it was worth the wait....So beautiful...It reminds me of heaven :)

The Carnage of the Peeps

Happy Easter everyone! Not only was my Easter a wonderful one, but Ben and I found out we have more than one thing in common. Ben likes Peeps, and so do I....(but for different reasons).
Ben bought me some Peeps for my easter basket because he likes them and he wanted to get them for himself because he knows I don't like marshmallows. (True) But he didn't realize that I like Peeps...but not eating them...I like to find creative ways of re-arranging their matter using the microwave.

Ben also likes to use them as target practice for his plastic pellet gun...Oh well, they can't complain, most of them take the practice with a certain buoyancy, and the rest--well, they will soon be undergoing a transformation of cell matter because they didn't cooperate.

What we do with bad Peeps

Portland, Here We Come!

Becky and I drove to Portland to try out for "America's Got Talent".
We had a wonderful time, learned that television "reality tv" is not real at all, (they would do "candid" interviews with the participants and tell them what to say, and record it over and over again until they said what they wanted them to say) and that I think Rebekah and I are probably not made for the competition--for the simple reason that when we perform we try very hard NOT to show off, but rather to be generous in our performance. I think we were a little bit too understated for their liking.

But! We had a wonderful time being with each other, and on the way back stopped by a beautiful area about an hour outside of Portland where they had a stunning waterfall and pretty good fudge that is highly over-priced (fudge takes approx. 8 min. and about 3 dollars to make for a pretty good sized batch, they were asking for 4 dollars a square) But, hey! We are on vacation! So I bought Ben a square for his souvenir (arn't all souvenir's overpriced anyway?).

I was so happy Rebekah could come down for the weekend and visit us. It was such a good time!