Pregnancy!

What an adventure pregnancy is. I've had a healthy and relatively easy pregnancy so far. No ankle swelling, no stretch marks (yet), no serious sickness. The only complaints: back aches, foot aches, hard to bend over, extreme tiredness sometimes.

I feel Norah kick quite often, moving around, bumping into my ribs or my bladder. It has been fun for friends, family and co-workers to feel when she moves too. Brian loves feeling her bump and dance inside my belly. She mostly resides on my right side, and if I've eaten too much, she tends to press uncomfortably into my ribs on that side. 

31 weeks

35 weeks

Three pregnant ladies, Hannah, Christine and I. I'm due the soonest! 36 1/2 weeks

So at this point, I'm 37 1/2 weeks. Which means anytime she can come out! I don't mind if she waits another few weeks. The Nurse Midwife told me it would be best for her brain development to stay in at least another two weeks. 

But we are as ready as we'll ever be for our first child!

Oneota Gorge

Happy Birthday to my friend Elia! During the beginning of August, I (Wendy) went for a little "hike" with Elia and two of her friends. I say hike, but its more like a stroll through a creek.

There were a lot of people out and about on this particular day hiking and we did have to go through the creek to get to the end goal: a waterfall. One very deep spot! But at least it was a hot day!

Oneota Falls, a very popular day walk in the summer.

Elia and I. Friends since third grade!

Other fun happenings from July.

After our adventuring through the Steens Mountain, we stopped in Klamath Falls to see a long time friend of my mom's, Pat. And she took us on a little ride! It was a nice, but short visit. I hadn't been down there since I was a young teenager. 

The following day Pat took us kayaking on Spring Creek. A really, crystal clear creek that just bubbles out of the ground once you get to the headwaters. It is also super cold water, about 8 degrees all year around. I tried splashing Brian a few times to cool him down. 

My mom and Pat, behind her, can't see the second person in the picture, but she is there!

I liked this little boat house. The color almost matches the color of the water!

My first garden in our home. Some of the plants have gotten a little larger than I expected...Next year I will have to move some stuff around. 

It was full of corn, rhubarb, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, kale, spinach, pumpkins, green beans, snap peas, chard and strawberries and beets...and zucchini. Whew. Fun and a lot of work. 

Excited to try a few different things next year. But in the meantime, we're having a baby in a few weeks!

Long Live The Queen!!!

So Wendy and I saw an advertisement for a Renaissance Fair in Silverton, OR. We thought about finding some 15th century clothes, but in the end just went as ourselves. The fair was really well done in that the whole village was medieval style. The schedule was packed with amazing things to see and do.   

 There was a queen that had a royal guard and most people bowed to her as she went by on her noble steed.

 Wendy with a local entertainer. He was actually a magician and did a trick where he floated a table that was absolutely amazing.

 I asked the queen if I could take a picture before the joust began. She obliged and I thanked her for her royal kindness.

 One of the jousting knights. He was also pretty funny.

 The atmosphere was so intense as the knights get ready to joust to the almost death.

If you ever get a chance to go to a Ren Fair. You should take it because it is so much fun to see what life would have been like. Or at least get as close as possible. 

Riddle Ranch

  

  

The Riddle brothers first came to the Steens in 1900, they claimed about 1100 acres of land on both sides of a small river that runs through the valley. This was an open air museum. We were able to walk in all the buildings and explore as we wanted!

 Top picture is the house: included a kitchen, living room and an upstairs area for sleeping. 

Second picture, Monty looking out through the screen in their porch. Probably wondering why he couldn't come out of the house too!

Below: workshop/blacksmith area.

of course they had a toilet!

The barn.

Fun to see a bit of history in this desolate section of Oregon.

The view from the top!

There is a 30 mile loop road one can drive up through the Steens Mountain. A few hiking trails and viewpoints along the way. Also a few campsites. 

First stop: Kiger Gorge. Brian is about to throw a little airplane off the cliff. We actually watched if float for a few minutes before crashing way below us. It was just about invisible to our eyes by the time it crashed.

This is what much of the road looked like once we got up high. 

The top of the mountain! 9,700 feet.

I always seem to take a picture of Brian with a bug or animal of some sort. What do you think he is thinking at this point?

And a pregnant shot of me! Here I am, about 30 weeks pregnant. I found some of these puff weeds (as I like to call them), they were huge!

Next post will be some pictures from an old ranch we hiked out to.

A Trip to the Steens Mountain

Eastern Oregon...a very empty land compared to the I5 corridor. Long, flat roads, high desert country, sage brush. A lot of blue sky. DRY. and hot. 

So, Brian, my mom and I headed out to the Steens Mountains

Here are some sights along the way. 

Bathroom break in a little town called Frenchglen. Look it up. Its right next to the mountains and probably barely comes up on google maps. :) Nice looking toilet huh? I used the outhouse instead of the actualy toilet sitting on the lawn. 

Here we are heading up the Steens Mt loop road to Fish Lake. Our campsite destination for a few nights. Lake is below.

We had a nice little campspot, there were some trees even surrounding the lake. But as you can see up on the hill, no trees, just a lot of sage brush.

Our first day consisted of driving and camping. Next post will have some pictures from Day 2!