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