Bittersweet

It's been a busy, roller coaster of a week, and not just because I worked seven days in a row. (Is that what I should be doing while pregnant?). Oh well, the money is nice. We've had some really great news and some really, really bad news. Good news is that baby is doing smashingly. We had our 20 week ultrasound on Wednesday, and everything looks fine. He is moving around like a champ in there. For those astute readers, you may have noticed that two letter word I slipped in there....he. Yep, the ultrasound tech is 99% sure it is a boy (they can never say 100%), but I was able to also pick out some pretty convincing evidence on the pictures. One mystery solved. Next up is the name. No ideas there yet, and not sure if we'll share before the birth or not. Hard to believe we are half way there and that those weird little pokes I'm feeling are a human being in the making!

Here I am at week 20. This picture seems misleading to me, because when I look in the mirror, I feel like I look a lot bigger than this...you can always check out our Flickr site for new belly pics. I might post there more frequently than here.


The oh-so sad news we got was that Keith's cousin, who just asked him to be in his wedding, passed away earlier this week. He's our age (which I like to think is still young) and died instantly from cardiac arrest. At 34. So unfair, shocking and sad. So hard to process. He was in our wedding, and although I never got to know him very well, he and Keith were very close in college - causing trouble together in their frat all four years. He was supposed to get married in just a couple weeks. Damn. You will be missed, Lee.


In other, more happy news, summer is here and we have managed to get ourselves out on a few outings.

Back in May we took a day hike up on the McKenzie River to Tamolitch Falls. Which isn't supposed to be a falls at all. It is more aptly known as the Blue Hole. It is a stretch of the river that has been diverted underground through lava tubes, and then suddenly reemerges at this blue hole. We went there hoping to see the famed Blue Hole, but it was late spring and we had such a heavy snow year, that the reservoir upstream couldn't handle all the water, so much of the river was going back over it's natural path and therefore, there was indeed a rather large waterfall at Tamolitch Falls. Now we have to go back and hike it again to see the Blue Hole in all it's glory. The hike was nice. We tried to go beyond to get up to the reservoir, but we hit too much snow and after a tumble on my part (which unfortunately led to a week laid out on my back - thanks loose pregnancy ligaments) we had to turn back early.

The falls in the background:


Scenery along the McKenzie trail:


The McKenzie at high flow:


Keith gazing at the blue hole that isn't so blue with all that water rushing into it:


Next up was a short outing to Jenn and John's beach house to visit with our friends from South Africa who were such good hosts while we were there. You may remember this thing that we had the privilege to drive around southern Africa. Well John and Ester are the "caretakers" for this automobile and were so kind to us while we were there - giving us the most amazing braii (BBQ) we've ever had, and stocking that Land Rover so well with every piece of camping gear and extras anyone would need. So they finally got a trip to the States to spend time mostly with John and Jenn but we were able to sneak a few days in with them as well. After a quick visit to the local lighthouse (which none of us locals has ever bothered to stop at), John and Jenn had to head back to Eugene early. We stayed behind with John and Ester to give them more time at the coast and gave them an Oregon style BBQ on the beach. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we got really lucky with the weather.

Heceta Head lighthouse:


The Oregon coast:


Setting up for a BBQ on the beach:


Drinks included:


And local seafood. Very local. From the rocks behind us. Well these are actually oysters that we bought at a store, but the mussels we ate later came from the rocks behind us.


And last week, I had a week off, so we went out and finally did some camping. The weather was perfect and it was mid-week, so we had campgrounds basically to ourselves. We ventured up the McKenzie River again and set up our first night camp at Olallie Campground. A very cool campground if you can get the prime spot. A corner site with a branch of the river practically running through your camp. We spent the day lounging and did another short section of the McKenzie River trail (this trail runs for about 25 miles along the McKenzie River).

Our campsite at Olallie:


From there, we headed over the pass and camped a night on the Metolius River, which is another river that starts from the depths of the lava tubes. We found a great little walk-in campground which was virtually empty and had probably our most relaxing day there napping, strolling along the river, and playing Bocce Ball, Scrabble, and Backgammon (does that make us sound old or what?).

Our campsite at the Metolius. Notice how stressed out Keith is.


The Metolius River.


Our main reason for heading over the pass was to check out Smith Rock. Smith Rock is the climbers' mecca of Oregon and we have heard it is a gorgeous place for even non-climbers to visit. It's a place we've both always wanted to see, so we took a day trip out there to do a little hiking. It is truly a beautiful place - not very big, but stunning. In the middle of the high desert plains sits all these massive, unique rock formations. It's like a little tiny piece of Utah sitting in the middle of Oregon. We did the standard 4 mile hike that takes you up to the top (ask me how fast I walked up that hill....the baby is not sharing the oxygen equally) and around the back side and finally along the Crooked River back to the start. A very nice hike with some amazing views of all the big volcanoes of the Cascades.

Me catching my breath among some very nice views.




At the top you get right next to the famous Monkey Face (you'll see later) where we can perch precariously over ledges looking for the crazy climbers who actually climb up this thing.
I am posting this picture mostly for my brother who has a bit of an issue with heights....even looking at others sitting on edges....he is also a kick ass rock climber....go figure.


There is the Monkey Face. You can see the little ledge where I was sitting just to the right of the monkey's mouth.


For our third night of camp, we headed back to the McKenzie River and checked out another campground (Ice Cap) which was right next to some waterfalls. Again, with all the snow melt, these falls are in fine form right now. Another pleasant, relaxing evening and a walk along the river that connected Koosah Falls with Sahalie Falls. Here is Keith in front of Sahalie Falls, apparently very excited by either the view or his coffee.


Some wild irises that I thought were quite pretty.


It wouldn't be a complete blog entry without an update on our house projects. I think I mentioned before that we were getting ready to paint the house. After all the destruction from leveling it, it was time to clean things up and make it look nice again. Once the rains stopped, Ketih's parents came up and helped get the thing painted. With the help of the sprayer, the three of them were able to get the main part done in a day (yay for small houses!).

Here is what it looked like before with the piecemeal siding work.


And a look at the final product (mostly). There is some trim work that lingers, but you can't tell from this picture. What you can see is that there is a big, broken trailer in the driveway. I wanted a nice clean after picture, but my dear husband tells me that the trailer is not going anywhere anytime soon. It had a little accident on I-5 (actually quite a scary incident and very lucky one as no one was hurt), and basically requires a rebuild which we are choosing not to afford right now. And the axles are off and it is big and heavy, so there it sits.


We also decided to get rid of the wood paneling in our dining area which involved a lot of drywall work on Keith's part. He did a great job.



And that's it for now. We are in the midst of a 90 degree humid heat wave and getting ready for our yearly 4th of July camping trip. The track and field Olympic Trials are taking place this week in Eugene, so the city is all abuzz and getting lots of national airtime. Keith was able to go to a bit of it today, and we spent some time milling around outside the stadium yesterday among the festivities. It's good for Eugene, and they seem to be doing a good job pulling the whole event off.

Interesting Developments

It seems as if posting an entry has become a once every three or four month event. Oh well, you haven't missed much. After the New Year, we didn't do much of anything except work. Me at the hospital and Keith up at the Philomath house. He finally got that house as done as its going to be and we put it on the market at the end of March. Needless to say, it has been slow going on the sales front - but I doubt that comes as a surprise to anyone given the state of our economy and the housing market. We are trying to be patient and wait out the "busy" summer season and see what happens. If you are interested in some finished product photos, you can look here:
http://www.philomathhouseforsale.blogspot.com/

It's been nice having Keith back around this house. I have my handyman back! And my dishwasher! He's been tackling unfinished business around here, like fixing the siding he had to tear apart to do the foundation, a mini-update of the main bathroom, and a rebuild of the garage door (ask him how fun that was). No pictures - we haven't been too inspired on the photo front lately. Next major project will be painting the outside of the house as it is all patchwork right now.

In the meantime, we found out this interesting piece of information:














Yep. Pretty crazy, huh? As of now I am 15 weeks along, and most of you that even bother to check here for updates already know this information. Regardless, I will go ahead and answer the most frequently asked questions:
1) Yes, it was planned.
2) No, I haven't had any nausea or morning sickness.
3) Yes, we will find out the sex of the baby.
4) No, there aren't any smells that have been particularly strong or annoying.
5) No, I don't have any cravings (much to Keith's chagrin).

Pretty boring huh? At times I had to remind myself that I was even pregnant. Then we had an ultrasound at 8 weeks (this doc likes to do the first one really early) and saw the little heart beating which made it all a little more real. The only (and most annoying) symptom I've been dealing with is the rapid pace at which my shirts have stopped fitting (and it is not from a growing belly.... ahem....). I was already plenty well endowed before, but this is getting ridiculous. All my friends with babies tell me, "Just wait until you're breastfeeding". Great. Lucky for me, I wear baggy scrubs to work, so I I've been OK there and should be for a while still. When I have to go out in public though in normal clothes, that's when the mental breakdowns occur and my entire closet ends up on the floor. I'm at that awkward stage where I don't really need maternity clothes, but nothing in my closet fits either. So I just hide out at home in my sweats and t-shirts. Kidding. I get out sometimes and have found a few shirts, but the weather is not cooperating with the shirts I have bought. Life is rough, isn't it?

Here is a picture of my belly at 14 weeks. I didn't take one right off the bat, because really, I didn't look much different than this. I always have a poocher of a belly like this, but maybe from here on out it will start to look like something other than too much cookie dough!


In other news, we went on a couple trips since our last post. The first was a nice long weekend getaway to San Diego with John and Jenn to attend our good friend, Kelly's, wedding. I hadn't been on a vacation since New Years' so I was very ready to get out of town for a while. This was early April, and while we were expecting sunny days on the beach, we were instead greeted with cold, cloudy skies and felt more like we were on the Oregon coast rather than a California one. We had a great time, nevertheless. We rented a nice little house one block from the beach where we could cook some good meals on our own when we weren't attending wedding festivities.


We spent one full day at the San Diego zoo which was quite nice. As far as zoos go, it is top notch - really expansive grounds and nice habitats for the animals. We got there early so got a nice view of the ever popular pandas and saw all kinds of other animals like the gorillas, polar bears, black panther and lots more. We took some pictures, but unless you are a photographer, zoo photos, just don't usually turn out that good.

The wedding itself was spectacular and picture perfect. It was held up on a cliff overlooking the ocean, the decorations were amazing and of course the happy couple looked stunning and appeared to have a great time. Kelly was my compatriot through nursing school and has since moved back home to San Diego. I miss her dearly, but love to see her so happy.

A shot of the girls. (Notice anything different about Jenn's belly? Yep, she's having a baby too! Due it September! Yay!).


And Keith and I dressed up, enjoying the festivities.


Then at the end of April, we took a week off and went to visit my parents in St George, UT. Over Thanksgiving, my folks picked out a vacation home for them to use in the winters and closed the deal in February. They bought it knowing it needed a little bit of roof work, so had to head back out there in March to get the work started and done. As house projects tend to go, the "little roof repair" turned into a lot more than they bargained for (i.e. a replacement of the entire roof!), and they are not ones to hire very many jobs out. So they are still there. St George is not a summer vacation place because it gets well into the 100's in the summer. They had hoped to be home by now, but are fighting the heat and fighting to finish up the projects. Dad is still on the roof, although I think he is close to being done by now.

So we went out for a week to visit, share our fun new news and to help them with a bit of the work. The days ended up being slightly routine in that we'd spend our mornings on one outing or another, getting home for a late lunch, then spending the rest of the day helping get some projects done around the house - which meant Keith and Dad up on the roof and Mom and I inside prepping walls for painting. Paul came down my last weekend there so we had one good play day with him as well which was great.

The house they bought has BLM land as their backyard and a big 'ol butte just screaming to be climbed. So that was the first order of business, a scramble to the top of that. You can't see my parents' house in this picture, but it is right down there in that first line of houses.


St George is a thriving retirement community and you would not believe the amount of construction and expansion that is going on there. It's kind of a shame because there is absolutely no regard for the environment, water conservation, etc there. It's just build, build, build. My parents feel a little guilty about that part - but of course they are the ones conserving their water, recycling (if you can find a place to take it) and hanging their clothes out to dry (which takes about 2 seconds - I can't imagine running a dryer down there!).

The next day, dad took us to this cool white slot canyon in the middle of some remote BLM land.


Keith and I walked back via the top of the canyon and coming back down the hill, we recrossed this old cattle corral we had seen before. On the way in, we had lifted Gracie in this tank of water to give her some relief from the dry heat. Well, she remembered it, and as soon as she spotted the water from the top of the hill she ran down way ahead of us and did this until we caught up to her to let her back in for a swim.


A couple shots of the house. How the boys spent their afternoons.


Nice backyard, huh?


Day 3's activity took us to the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, which is a large piece of land set aside to protect a very rare turtle. It is also riddled with lots of beautiful red rock with trails that take you down to the Virgin River. Keith did a few scrambles up the rocks and Gracie of course enjoyed the river.
A look at the landscape:


Keith scrambling:


And here is a video of Gracie fetching rocks across the river. The current was quite strong in the middle and the water deep, so we all got a kick out of watching her get a little swept up in it. Here is a video of Gracie bringing back a particularly big rock.

The final day of activity we went up near Snow Canyon (a gorgeous state park nearby) and did some off trail hiking. Turned out to be a little more difficult than planned, but still had some very nice scenery.

Trying to figure out the best route.


Cool rocks.


There are lots more photos from Utah on our Flickr site if you are interested.

I had to fly home before Keith so I could get back to work, but Keith stayed behind to give my parents some help and some solid work days up on the roof. He stayed about another week, then made the long drive home alone in the little car with Gracie.

Holiday Wrapup....Well Into Winter...

Did everyone enjoy their Christmas card?
Oh wait, I didn't send any. And we didn't put up a tree or hang any lights. Was I a scrooge? No, we just didn't feel like doing any of that this year, and it came and went so fast.

But backing up to Thanksgiving. We had a grand ol time enjoying the sunny, dry days in Southern Utah. My parents were vacationing in St George for the month of November and house shopping for a snowbird place, so the kids decided to meet up there for Thanksgiving. Keith did not make the trip, as Thanksgiving is too big of a holiday for his family and he couldn't bear to miss it.

Our time there was spent in a very comfortable condo to relax and recoup from our daily outings. I flew into Salt Lake where my brother, Paul, picked me up at the airport in a fully loaded Subaru (kayak and 2 bikes on top, climbing gear, skis, and every other 'just in case' piece of outdoor equipment in the back). We made the long drive, getting to St George about 10:00PM to find my parents kicked back in the condo deliberating on a house. The anguish went on for a couple days, but by the end of the weekend, they signed acceptance papers!

The next day, Paul, Mom, Dad and I did a long hike in the Zion National Park to Observation Point. Gorgeous. Cool weather in the morning, but we were down to shorts and t-shirts and stunning views by the top.
Paul and I broke from my parents early and did a side hike up to Hidden Canyon which has a short stint along Zion's famous chain-trails (trails that have chains bolted into the canyon wall so that you don't fall down the vertical cliff to your left/right).

Paul coming back from Hidden Canyon:


Looking down towards Zion canyon - it's a relatively small park, but very dramatic. Paul climbed that steep wall on the left!


We didn't catch my parents until the very end of the hike where they were waiting for us with lunch and a view.


On the way down Paul and I meandered down a small slot canyon, while Dad looked on from above.


Late, late that night Carl and Tory showed up after a grueling 10 hour drive from Denver. But that didn't slow them down. They were rearing to go do some of the much anticipated mountain biking that is plentiful in this area. So while my parents did some last minute house business we took off on a trail that conveniently starts where our condo was and ends practically in the back yard of the house they are going to buy (we think, the deal is still in progress as I type this). I did my usual weenie riding, giving the brakes of my bike (well, actually it was Heidi's bike - she couldn't make the trip, but was kind enough to let me use her very nice ride) while the other three did things like this:


They spent about 45 minutes playing on and around the "Three Fingers of Death". Yeah, I took the 'green' route around that part. At the end of the trail we met our folks at "the house" and got to look around it for ourselves. Very nice. Needs a little bit of repair work, but its backyard is that bike trail and it sits in a very nice neighborhood and is roomy, comfortable and will make a great vacation home. And they got it for a good price. Well done guys!

Paul, Carl and Tory did a repeat of the ride the next day closer to dusk and were treated to some amazing colors.


The next day was Thanksgiving and we took off in the morning to do a little rock climbing. Paul is our expert climber and was kind enough to put up with us and show us the ropes. (Groan....sorry that wasn't intentional). I know how uninteresting (not to mention unflattering) climbing photos are, so I will spare you. But I will show you our expert belay techniques. You know. Belaying. Done by the one holding the rope (aka your life) so that you don't fall 20 feet and crack your head open.


In my defense, I swear I either only glanced away for a second, or else she was resting!


In Paul's defense, "this is how the pros do it".

One more picture to give you kind of an idea of how it feels when your climbing and why it is so much scarier when you are actually up on the rock.


Mom, bless her heart, went back to the condo to cook the turkey, while Dad and I rode from the climbing site through some other trails working our way back to the condo, and while Paul, Carl and Tory did the hard core trail again.

We spent our evenings relaxing at the condo - swimming, hot tubbing, playing pool, watching TV, and of course, some Boggle.

The next day I had to leave, but had time for a nice day hike with my folks before the drive to the Las Vegas airport (much closer than Salt Lake). The 'kids' did another big mountain bike ride and the next day they all did a small canoe trip. A well-rounded vacation if I do say so myself. I have a lot more pictures here if you are interested, including an action climbing shot of each person who climbed (woo-hoo!).

For a recap and pictures of Keith' s Thanksgiving, I suggest you just re-read last years entry (and I don't mean that in a flippant way - that's what tradition is all about!), but replace the miserable, constant rain, with bright, sunny, crisp days, add a cousin, a new boyfriend and 2 or 3 new dogs, take out the Bauers, and voila! Seriously, though, they did have a great time and a great turnout of faraway relatives.


Moving onto Christmas. A quiet one for sure. I ended up working 7 days straight (and picking up lots of overtime) including Christmas and Christmas Eve. We spent Christmas Eve morning at John and Jenn's for a lovely brunch and Christmas morning at Keith's brothers place to watch excited kids open lots of presents. And that's about it - low key and quiet, but nice.


Next would be New Years. A bit more festive here, although I don't think we made it to midnight. I had that whole week off, so we spent three lovely, lazy days with Jenn and John at their beach house. Lots of walks on the beach, good meals, a nice hike through the woods, some football for the boys while the gals went walking, and game playing and good conversation at night. A very nice time as usual.
Looking back at their house:


Funny dogs.



Since then, it's been back to work. Keith's grinding away at Philomath. We keep saying we'll have it on the market by the end of the week. But the weeks keep ending and there isn't a for sale sign yet. We are getting closer though and hope to see the fruits of our labors soon. Nothing new on my job front. I am happy where I am and will probably just stay put for the next year or so before venturing into a new area. I toy with moving to day shift, but I haven't had to set an alarm clock for years, and I just can't imagine getting up at 5:30 (I know, most normal people do that every single day....), and I really like the people I work with on my shift.

We did get out for a day of recreating. I got new (sort of - long story there) snowshoes for Christmas and we had been itching to try them out, so we picked a clear, sunny Wednesday and took off for Willamette Pass. We stopped at the first Sno-Park we came to and climbed up an old forest service road to the top of Fuji Mountain where there was a shelter waiting as our destination. It was cold but clear and beautiful. Gracie did well, but was fed up with the snow balling up on her feet by the end of the hike. Next time, she'll have to wear booties.

Beginning of the trail.


Halfway up and nice views of Diamond Peak.


Finally, the shelter.


There has been so much snow this year, you have to climb down to get into the shelter. These shelters are pretty cool - completely stocked with firewood and a wood stove and a sleeping platform up above. We slept in one of these a few years back. It makes for a cold night (you know, missing the fourth wall and all), but is still kinda fun.
That is the roof Keith is holding onto.


Looking out from the shelter. Our view is majorly obstructed by the big snow drift.


We decided to break trail and take a "shortcut" down through this open forest for some adventure. We had a bet to see who would fall more. The results: Emily: 6. Keith: 0. Hmpf.




Which brings us to today. Melody and Dwayne are up here visiting (aka working) again. They like to come up and help us/Keith with the Philomath house. For some reason that we can't figure out, they just really enjoy working on it with him. No matter what the job or weather. So I went up with them yesterday and Melody and I spent the day out in some very cold rain screwing in fence boards and spreading bark, while the men worked inside on some electrical stuff for this separate outbuilding Keith's trying to fix up. Hmmmm. Granted we all were cold, but still. No matter, there help is much appreciated and will never be turned down.

And today we woke to this unexpected scene:


Check out my snowball-catching dog.




And us dorks. Yes, I have a big red dot on my big red, swollen nose, and yes, Keith has a red mark on his chin - we are pretty sure it is poison oak from his last wood-gathering excursion (I probably got some residual from his clothes) - aren't we cute. The tip of my nose?....come on...such bad reminders of the age of acne....


OK. We're caught up. To end I'm providing a link to an enlightening and funny video that I found kind of moving.