The Great Outdoors

So many adventures in the past few weeks! Between that and briefly forgetting you have a blog to update...here's the past month of our lives! Taking it all the way back to the beginning of July, we decided to go to Bend for the 4th of July weekend. Payton's grandparents live there, and it was time for a mini vacation. We celebrated AMERICA by going golfing, attending a barbecue, and of course watching the fireworks that were sent off from the butte. Seeing as I don't golf, I took on the role as designated driver. But one day guys...one day you will see me out there, with the cutest matching golf outfit you have ever seen. But until then...I'll just enjoy my view :)

Happy Birthday America!

and FLASHBACK from last year! when we first started dating :)

For some reason I also wanted to go floating down a river real bad, so we added that to our Bend adventure!

We also went blackberry picking the other day, which is always fun to do. Brought back childhood memories picking them with my sisters and mom! The farm we went to had SO many types of berries to pick, but I wanted to get blackberries because they are one of my favorite fruits. It wasn't until after our adventure, though, (and after paying for the fruit) that we found out blackberries are considered a weed here and we can pretty much pick them a billion places for free...but hey, it was worth the laugh and immediate gratification of a homemade blackberry cobbler!

 HOME. MADE.

Flashback to the more recent past, we went on a camping trip with Payton's grandparents in Washington, and made an impromptu drive to Mt. St. Helens. At least we can say the bottom half of it was looking gooood.

love these two wonderful people!

Helped churn the ice cream, and decided to chop my hair off:

Got to camp right next to a river! 5am motor boat wake up call, cause some dudes had to go fishing or something...but it was a beautiful view!

tent and cooking grounds! dutch ovens are the best.

Last but not least, Payton and I finally went on a hike together, and Saturday was the perfect day to go (I recently made a Chacos purchase, so pretty much I'm ready to hike anything). We started out the day by hitting up the Lake Oswego Farmer's Market (I'm becoming obsessed with farmers market samples!) and then we headed to the Gorge to hike our lives away and get an endorphin boost. We wanted to hike Oneonta Falls, but it was closed due to a rock slide. We were pretty bummed at first because we were excited for the "water" hike, but we hiked Horsetail Falls instead because we hadn't hiked that one either. And surprise! Water hike it was :)

 It tested our strength...

our balance...

our agility...

our endurance...

and it was beautiful!

Us with Ashley and Robbie! So glad they were able to join us.

But really though, that hike was BOMB. There was even a spot where we were able to jump in!

And there's no better way to end a great day than with great food. You guys. TACOS. If you are looking for a place to satisfy that craving, check out POR QUE NO and FEAST.  Their tacos were delicious! And rather photogenic...

NOW on a different note, my latest and greatest:

I wasn't kidding when I said Pinterest and I were going strong--constantly taking our relationship to the next level. As a quick explanation, Payton and I met in Provo UT, were engaged in Bend OR, and got married in Los Angeles CA! Yay for crafts!

That's all for now you lovely people.  Until next!

Love,  

us

All About Portland

Payton and I have been in Portland now for a month and a half, and although we are nowhere closeee to seeing all the cool shenanigans the city offers, we have done some pretty neat things so far. Let’s take it back to the first couple of weeks when we went to downtown Portland for the first time. First stop, Voodoo Doughnuts! Apparently they are all the craze here, so obviously we had to try them. We probably waited in line for 45 minutes, and the whole time Payton and I were trying to decide what doughnuts to get because they have SO MANY choices. And really interesting names too 

(click to see their menu!).  Anyways, after 45 minutes, $21.75, and 11 doughnuts later….we finally had our first Voodoo Doughnuts experience! Payton’s favorite was the Portland Cream doughnut, and my favorite was probably the Memphis Mafia doughnut.

We also went to Powell’s Bookstore the same day, and it is probably the coolest bookstore I’ve ever been to. Between the thousands of books and the hundreds of Portland peeps, there is no way you can get bored in there! We did a lot of walking around and read some parts of different books, but one specifically had us cracking up. It's called Sh*t Rough Drafts.

Excuse the language, but this book is all about the “rough drafts” of well known books, movies, and TV shows “as they might have been.” My favorite?

Ended the day at the Portland food trucks! Indian for me, Middle Eastern for him.

A couple weeks ago, we were also able to go the Oregon COAST (I refuse to call it a beach). It probably sees sun maybe one week out of the year, but at least there were all the beachy stuff like sand castles, beach umbrellas, and people running with their dogs. It’s as close to home as I’ll probably get. We enjoyed the day walking to Haystack Rock, throwing a frisbee/football, taking pics, and walking around all the shops there. We also had some hit-the-spot clam chowder (our waiter was from Santa Barbara! So we had a nice little convo) and ended the day with fudge at the candy shop. It was a joyous way to spend a Saturday!

Had fun taking pictures with this stud :)

Last Saturday we went to the Portland Farmer’s Market, and YAY FOR FREE SAMPLES! We practically had lunch with all the food samples we tried (one of the reasons we go to Costco, right?) I mean, we are talking cheese, meats, jams, chocolates, juices, honey, fruit…you name it! And I totally freaked when I saw some guy with honey sticks….talk about farmer’s market childhood memories with the madre. So of course, we got some. Made my first adult farmer’s market purchase by buying two honey sticks worth 25 cents each. Definitely a proud moment right there. I couldn’t capture all the awesomeness in pictures, but I tried a little.

Them honey sticks though...

Flowers! Talk about those peonies.

Favorite station right here. Jams on jams on jams.

Only a glimpse of the amount of fruit that was everywhere.

Food, music, and good times!

And then there was Salt & Straw :) This drive to Portland for some ice cream was a treat. First it was crazy doughnuts, and now it is some crazy ice cream. Check out their flavors here! We sampled 

ones like Honey Balsamic Strawberry with Cracked Pepper, Grandma Malek’s Almond Brittle with Salted Ganache, Pear with Bleu Cheese, and Honey Lavender. And really, none of them were all that bad!

Last but not least, we had a short getaway to Richland, WA this weekend. Payton had a childhood friend get married, so we went to the Columbia River Temple in the morning and their reception in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day for a wedding, and it's always fun to see old friends!

Friends from Illinois!

SO there’s for our adventures thus far! And since it’s July 1, I thought I’d showcase my fourth of July crafts that I’ve recently completed.  I’ve always had a relationship with Pinterest, but as of recent we’re going real strong.

On an ending note, ‘merica.

love, 

us