Lagreids = in it for the long haul

We took off for Sunriver for Labor Day weekend, and the Lagrieds make the trek from Spokane this time, with two littles in tow.

Distance isn't going to interrupt this magical friendship, confirmed through their commitment to get to 6 Flat Top.

Long days of lounging, bike rides, swimming pool visits, dog training outings, and lavish dinners followed by the traditional guitar serenade a la Greg rounded out our visit.

 How most road trips look from the passenger seat.

 Trip also included obligatory brew pub visits (RIP, Oblivion), and a quick meet-up with this cute-cutie.

 Wiped.

 This is how you'll find Taylor every time we meet up with the Lags.

 Miss Lil riding solo on the rock.

 Lagried, Party of FOUR!

 Just practicing. I always give them back.

 Our little family.

 Hope someday we can have kids as cute as these two.

 The Bash Brothers get their turn on the rock.

It never gets old. And until next time, Deschutes...

The hiatus is over

((Taps mic.)) This thing on?

My, oh my…how long it’s been.

The last nine months of work have been crazy. To be fair, it’s more like the last six. I’ve had to put aside a lot of the things that make me happy or fulfill my passions, simply to keep my head above water. I sort of tabled time spent writing, which I’ve sorely missed.

I can’t do that anymore. I love keeping track of memories and capturing the little things that I want to remember forever. So, I’m back. Hopefully more consistently.

I just read this quote in an article about a pro basketball player-turned personal trainer: Sometimes we need to walk away from the things that are right to really understand them.

In my opinion, I walked away from my true self. Sort of as a challenge, a risk I was willing to take. I knew I might flounder, but I hoped I’d succeed and open door I didn’t even know was there. I ended up overworking myself, alongside a super challenging time health-wise for me, too.

But all of this is in the past, and I'm really feeling back to my old self. It's time to make and save moments to write and reflect. 

So how about a quick recap of last summer's Benz Birthday Weekend Cooking Challenge?

The theme for 2015 was: Fusion Food Carts, and there were no disappointments. Team Heit kicked things off with a Californian-Hawaiian plate lunch, followed by the DeVries doing an Asian-Mexican fusion, “Samurai Sombreros,” and then it was our turn, the “Umami Tsunami,” a non-specified Asian fusion. None of us knew what the other teams would be creating, so as always, it was surprising and fun, and there were no duplicate items on the menus.

We also took a trip out to Elk Lake for picnicking and paddleboarding, which ended up being quite the highlight of the long weekend. We’re adding this to our annual to-do for next year (which isn’t so far away now that it’s almost May).

The BBWCC is our family’s Christmas. Since we can’t all get together in December, it’s so nice to have all of us in one place at one time, celebrating another year of life in our favorite place over food.

The photos are in no order at all...and probably terrible quality because I'm no photographer. Clearly.

Another tax season in the books

Here I am...recapping April in July. Pretty standard. 

We made it through another tax season over at the Bethell Bungalow, and of course it presented its own challenges--namely a puppy by the name of Bowen. Bowen and I got to be good buds, running together four of five weekday mornings, going to the dog park in the evenings, cooking dinner together, and catching up on recorded Food Network and/or the occasional trashy TV shows before Taylor made it home each night.

We immediately headed over to our favorite oasis, Sunriver, with two other couples. Taylor went a day early, and I got a call on my way over that he wrecked on his mountain bike. This was not the first time I'd received a call like this, but this was the first time in which he was standing outside of urgent care. Poor guy basically got impaled by the handlebar, leaving a gruesome mark on the center of his chest...earning him the nickname "Ironman" forevermore from this group of friends.   

We still managed to take a couple great hikes, cheers with celebratory drinks, feast (of course), check off the obligatory brewery dinner, bike ride, relax, and rejuvenate. Taylor and I stayed an extra day and basked in the beauty and freedom reaching April 15 brings every year.