Snow Shoeing

We had a huge snow storm up at the mountain this week! Because of this we have gone up to the mountain the past two weekends to snowshoe. Last week it was fairly easy, as there was a few inches of fresh snow over packed snow and a descent incline. This past week over 6 feet of snow fell at Mt. Bachelor and similar amounts at lower elevations. On Saturday morning we went to Swampy Lakes Sno Park. We were the first ones out on the trail that morning and broke trail for 3/4 of a mile. It was hard, yet rewarding work. It is such a surreal experience being some of the only people in surrounding area. Melinda stepped into an area where she was hip deep in snow!! Most of the way we were trudging through knee deep snow, even on snowshoes. It took us an hour and a half to hike out 3/4 of a mile and once we realized we didn't want to break anymore trail we turned back, at which point many other people had started out on the trail and packed it down making it a lot easier to trek on the way back. From there it was only 20 minutes to make it back to the car. A MAJOR difference.

Craig relaxing in the snow before breaking more trail

Sunday we went back to Swampy Lakes to see if we could make it a couple miles out to a snow shelter out in the wilderness. We got most of the way there, but again we were breaking trail where others had not yet explored. It wasn't too difficult since we had experience breaking trail the day before. We think we made it most of the way to the shelter, but had plans to meet up with friends to go snowshoeing, so we decided to call it a day and head back to the car. We plan on going back next week to see if we can finally make it all the way out to the snow shelter.

Melinda entered into a snow shoeing race with some co-workers next weekend. It should be a piece-of-cake after all the breaking trail we did this last weekend. After that we plan to go back to make it to the snow shelter.

In other news, we have had a friend, Melinda (yes another Melinda), return to Central Oregon after teaching in Chile for 6 months. She is attending George Fox's campus in Redmond to get her Master's in Teaching. With a quick return to the U.S. and Central Oregon she is living with us for the time being. It is great to have a very close friend living with us.

As far as wedding planning goes, we are getting the last of the larger items crossed off our list. We met with our florist last weekend and she is fantastic. We are very excited that the wedding is getting so close. Monday will be 5 months away. It is coming so quickly! We booked our honeymoon last weekend. We will be staying at Craig's Aunt & Uncle's condo in Kona for 7 days and then flying over to Kauai for a few nights where we will stay in a little cottage a few hundred feet away from the ocean. We will be staying in Kauai over the 4th of July so we are hoping that there is a great Independence Day celebration for us to attend.

You should be receiving your "Save the Date" in the mail in the beginning of February. We just got them ordered, so don't fear... it hasn't been lost in the mail, we are just getting on the ball. :)

We hope all of you are doing well.... especially those of you in Washington where a lot of snow has fallen in the past week.

All our love,
Melinda and Craig

8 Months Away!

We have approached 8 months until the big day! The weekend of October 22nd Mark came over to Bend for a visit. Craig, Mark, and I went out and enjoyed the fantastic Central Oregon weather. That Saturday we visited the Bendistillery which is just west of Tumalo. We went in and had a seat at the bar where we had a direct view of the three sisters. It was beautiful! After that we went to Tumalo Mountain where we ascended the mountain in record time with crystal clear views of the surrounding towns and mountain ranges. We also captured some fun photos that I've posted below.

From left to right - South Sister, Middle Sister, Broken Top

Sunday we went on a bike ride around the Phil's Trail area. Mark and Craig had a great ride, while I was off my game that day. I nearly fell quite a few times, I scraped my legs on my pedals twice, once on my Achilles tendon! OUCH. And in the midst of all of this Craig wanted to try a new trail. Ok.... normally no big deal, but this one led us on some fun curves and many places where we had to stop and walk our bikes up or down the hills because the degree of incline and amount of rocks! I would venture to say we walked on this portion of the trail more than we rode our bikes. When we arrived on a junction to the trail there were signs designating the trail as "MOST DIFFICULT". It was pretty apparent that this trail was more difficult than the others but I find it a success that I ended the day without any broken bones or blood. Either way it was pretty difficult. It's safe to say we will need to improve drastically before we attempt that trail again.

After visiting some of Craig's works friends that Friday night we came home to notice one of our pumpkins was stolen from our front porch!!! :( And if that wasn't bad enough it was the largest pumpkin, which completed our pumpkin family. Ugggg I was so upset when I noticed that. I mean, seriously, was that necessary to take our awesome pumpkin?!?!?

I am nearly done with the volleyball season. It was not quite the season we all had planned for, but we grew so much as a team and the girls learned a lot. I am hoping that it is a transitional year for the girls and a program as a whole. Now I have a year under my belt and next year will be better for sure. Well, for now that is all the newest events that have taken place in our lives.

All our love,
Melinda and Craig

We've set a date!!

So our posts have been far and few between. However, in the meantime I have finished school and Craig is near compleating his first year at Bend Research. He loves his job and gets to play Ultimate Frisbee almost every day at lunch with his co-workers. This spring Craig played on his work slow-pitch softball team. A couple games into the season he became the team's designated pitcher!

Now that I have been over in Bend for just over a month we have found  a place that we are going to get married. It is a little place outside Bend in the City of Tumalo. The location is called Rock Springs Ranch. You can click on the link to the left or the one below to visit the website of the location. We absolutely love the place. The cool thing about this location is there are 31 rooms available in a total of 7 cabins which will allow us to stay at the location and be close to our friends and family that attend the wedding.
www.rockspringsweddings.com


We will be getting married JUNE 23, 2012!!!!

Lastly, Craig and I just returned from our first camping trip of 2011. We went searching along the Metolius River just west of Bend/Sisters. But by time we got there all the camp sites were full except for one that had a glorious view of the outhouse. We decided to move on to other options. We found some sites at a place called Big Lake at Hoodoo. But once we stepped out of the car I was bit by about 5 mosquitoes in about 1 minute and so Craig and I decided to check somewhere else with less mosquitoes. After two hours of driving we finally found the place we were going to be staying. We stayed at Lost Lake camp ground. We had a beautiful view of the lake and sunrise both mornings. Mosquitoes didn't infiltrate the area as bad as at Big Lake, but I still got eaten alive with bug bites all over my body. Nevertheless we still had a great trip and outing. Saturday we went to the McKenzie River Trail Head and hiked over 7 miles around Clear Lake. We were completely exhausted after that trip but it was so BEAUTIFUL and the lake definitely hold true to its name and is the clearest lake Craig and I have ever seen in our lives. We've posted a few pictures into an online album which you can access by clicking album link below.

July 25, 2011

We hope everyone is having a great summer and we will update everyone soon with the rest of the things we have planned for this summer. I will be running my second half marathon of the summer August 7th, we will be going Antelope hunting with Mark the middle of August and just after that Craig and I will be running a 5K (~3.1 miles). We are excited to have a great remainder of the summer!!

Love, 

Melinda & Craig

Mt. Bachelor Fun!!

The weekend before Christmas, Craig's cousin Brian and his wife Kristen came to Bend to visit Craig and myself. We had a fun weekend and spent a few hours Sunday morning at Mt. Bachelor, tubing down the side of the mountain. It was the first time Kristen and I met, but we were instant friends. Our birthdays are a day apart Dec. 9th and 10th. We had a lot of fun and we were even able to all go down the mountain together. It was like we were having a little tea party. Kristen and I made friends with a little boy who wanted to race us. Kristen and I beat him every time. Kristen told him we had been training our whole life for this moment and he was young and believed her. It was pretty funny. :) After our tubing adventure we went and had lunch at the Nordic skiing lodge and watched all the cross country skiers who were climbing up the mountain. Here are all the pictures from the weekend for your enjoyment!!

Kristen and I after we beat the little kid. 

Brian and Craig getting ready to go up the mountain. 

We're Engaged!

This is an image of my actual ring with the wedding band, as I have to wait a few weeks to get the real thing. 

On Saturday December 11, 2010 Craig and I went on our first outing to Mt. Bachelor where we had a skiing lesson for Classic Nordic Skiing. After our lesson we decided to hit the trails and have a fun weekend on the mountain. Right as we hit the trails Craig immediately fell on the course and I had to avoid him and figure out how to not fall down too. So we didn't know that a race was going on and we happened to find ourselves in the middle of the race. It scared me so much I fell down on the course a few times and Craig was trying to make sure I still wanted to continue skiing for a few more hours. Once we got off the race course it was fun for us to learn this new hobby, just the two of us. Along the way Craig found an un-groomed trail - I was a few hundred feet back and Craig said "Come look at all of this snow!" The snow was at least 4 feet deep. I saw Craig fall in the snow. I wasn't surprised because we had been falling the whole time we had been on our skis. When I arrived to the really deep snow Craig had taken off his skis was walking towards me. At this point I was very confused. He came toward me and we hugged and he gave me a kiss. He proceeded to ask me "Will you love me forever?" I obviously responded "YES!", when he got down on one knee (and sunk in the snow) he pulled out the diamond that will eventually be placed in the setting of my ring and asked "Melinda, Will you marry me?". My jaw dropped and I think my heart may have stopped for a few seconds. I said, "Yes, yes I will!!!!" It seemed so surreal, and we spend minutes just looking at the diamond. We talked about some of the details we have been waiting to discuss until we became engaged. Then we realized we were freezing and needed to continue skiing to warm up. We kept talking about details of when and where we want it to take place. We ended our day of skiing at the lodge with Chai tea and one of the most amazing burritos we've had.

We came home and called our parents, grandparents, and closest friends to announce our recent engagement. Next, we got ready for an amazing dinner at the Blue Olive at the Brasada Ranch near Prineville, Oregon. The restaurant was nearly empty so we were able to celebrate our engagement just the two of us. We finished the night off by driving through Eagle Crest Christmas lights and came home to Craig's place to call it an early night.