Kayaking the Deshutes River

We went to Oregon the beginning of August with my parents.  It was a wonderful trip.  Not only were we able to see my grandparents, which Evan hasn't met until now, but we were able to hang out in Bend for a day.  It was wonderful seeing family and my Grandma say how much she loves Evan.  Because let's be honest, who doesn't love Evan?  My Granddad looked great, able to talk more and was constantly smiling.  It was fun hearing stories about my Dad and his brothers when they were younger and watching my Granddad chuckle and my Grandma somewhat roll her eyes like all this happened yesterday.  I love hanging out with family.  We spent all day Saturday with family, including my Aunt and Uncle and listened to Alaska stories and saw numerous pictures of bears that were a little to close for comfort when my Uncle was talking about how close he would get.  Which of course made Evan want to go to Alaska and experience this all first hand.  I will stay indoors on that one, thank you very much.  On Sunday we got up pretty early and headed out for Bend.  My parents friends, Susan and David were up floating the Deshutes River.  Of course, we were late.  So we hurried and jumped in kayaks, which automatically started Evan and I trying to knock my parents kayak over and playing bumper cars.  We had a theme song too, of course.  My Mom wasn't loving the bumper cars, my Dad of course got his fair share of laughs in.  We finally caught up to the group and just drank the rest of the river back to the bus back.  Was an amazing afternoon and beautiful scenery.  Thanks Mom and Dad for a wonderful trip and playing all our stupid car games, we had a wonderful time!!

Paddling down the river




My family (sorry Mom your head got a little chopped off)

Hanging out in the sun, it was wonderful weather for Oregon

Evan dove into the water, his classic showy dive and then popped up screaming how cold it was.   It was wonderful.  Anyone who has ever been into Jordanelle, that is warm compared to how cold this river was.

At the end of the trip, Susan is in the water to prove that she got wet.  

Healthy Lifestyle

So my sister got me this health and workout book for my birthday.  Go figure, she is a doctor.  Well soon to be. Anyway, I love reading workout books.  I love hearing about new workouts because I normally get tired of doing the same thing over and over again.  For some reason though, this book really stuck out to me and what it teaches.  It's really interesting so if anyone wants to borrow it let me know.  It talks about all the other factors to staying and getting in shape.  Not only is it a mindset of wanting to be healthy, it's a drive that you personally  must have.  My dad has ground this into my head of always being healthy and staying physically fit.  It pays off when you're older and your body doesn't feel gross when you eat garbage all day.  So needless to say, I started Monday actually carefully looking at what I was eating and how I could make improvements.  What's interesting though is I wasn't too far off.  Yes, I use too far off loosely.  Evan and I eat relatively healthy.  Well minus the order of onion rings I had this weekend haha.  Clearly that's not apart of being healthy.  But just reducing portions and eating reasonable amounts then the super sizes America has told us we "should" want.  I have noticed just from these last couple days how much better I feel.  Before my stomach would hurt from eating something, or you would be tired come the afternoon from a large lunch.  I don't get tired anymore, instead I'm more motivated to go home and work out with this book suggesting different things to do everyday.  The mentality from this book is to work all the core muscles and to mix up your cardio.  So this would mean for instance, Monday running, Tuesday weights, Wednesday swimming, Thursday yoga, Friday, aerobic and weights, Saturday, any aerobic activity.  I love this mentality of working out.  Switching up different activities which actually in the long run is a huge benefit for you and your body.  One thing that I need to stress though is your diet has a huge part of your "healthy lifestyle".  For instance, I don't go home and eat a whole pizza or munch on a bag a chips.  Have a half cup of lowfat cottage cheese or low fat yogurt.  Eat some fruit.  Dinner don't drench everything in a high fat sauce, have two veggies rather then 2 carbs.  Try to have low carbs for dinner and a lean protein, not a high fat steak.  Just some quick tips from this amazing book and a little bit of common sense :)

I just thought all this information was interesting and thought I would share.  Will let you know if it actually helps drop the pounds!

Mister Amazing

In case no one knew, Evan works full time as well as going to school full time and being a newlywed.  This makes him extra special because I have no idea how he does it.  After work I'm so tired and just would rather go to the park with the dogs or just relax.  Well not Evan, he normally has to do around 3 assignments or like last week take 4 finals in 3 days.  This takes a lot of energy and determination.  Most people after finding a full time job would just say, hey I'll finish eventually.  Nope, Evan did the opposite.  He took more classes to make sure he would finish in a year.  On top of all that Evan is a certified firefighter, captain of this class as well, and a certified EMT.  He has accomplished so much, with a smile on his face no less.  That's the most amazing part.  When I was in school I just wanted to get done.  I didn't really care, at some points, in what.  I just wanted to be done.  Somehow I did finish.  And what's so wonderful, Evan has the same kind of can do attitude.  He will finish.  That has never been a discussion of stopping.  Just always his attitude of I will finish and he always does along with raising his GPA which is amazing.  I'm just amazed at how happy and energetic he still is even after taking test after test, or assignment after assignment.  There is literally nothing he can't do.  Congrats Ev!  One more semester to go and you're done forever!

One paragraph of advice

Do not burn yourself out. Be as i am- A reluctant enthusiast... a part time crusader, and a half hearted fanatic

Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it is still there. So get out there and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for awhile and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely , mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourself, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to your body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those deskbound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by the desk calculators. I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards

Grandeur Peak

What have we been up to?  Hiking!!  Last Saturday we went on a super pretty  hike that we thought would take around 2 hours and the girls would have a great time getting outside.  Oh no, our hike was 6 hours and we were gone pretty much all day.  Ha, whoops!  But it was still a great experience to get outside and do something, even though it was in the high 90s that day.  I think all in all it was a great experience, minus our dogs getting super sick since they pretty much got heat exhaustion.  Whoops, owners fail.  But if anyone wants a good hike this is has a great view at the top and everything was super green.  Just watch out for rattlesnakes!  Apparently Evan saw one and people were coming down telling us to be careful with our dogs and we saw  numerous pictures of 5 foot long snakes.  Yuck.  I don't do snakes.  But I suggest to everyone to get outside and enjoy the summer.  Stop watching TV and staying inside, get moving!!


  
Here are some pictures, no particular order:

The trail

We made it!

View of Jordanelle

View of the Salt Lake Valley

Evan and Torre

Evan with Alta

Me being a loner




Just us!



The girls at the end of the hike

Great hike, beautiful views, hope we inspired people to get outside rather then stay inside!