Day 2:   We got up on good time to drive up along the coast. Dennis and Marsha took us to see the tide pools at Hug Beach. They were filled with star fish and anemones! There was also some great caves. After Hug Beach we were off to Fort Clatsop; where Luis and Clark had a fort and we got to see some demonstrations. By then it was about lunch time so we continued our journey up to Cannon Beach and Mo's for lunch! I tried clam strips for the first time and they were amazing! Next we visited the Astoria Tower. 164 tightly wound steps straight up and we were at the top to shoot off out airplanes! Following was a visit to the Flavell House, which is a very old, very nice mansion of a long ago charter captain! We couldn't leave without driving over the long [ 4 miles ish] bridge, so we did that and then headed on the twisty road home.  Needless to say, by the end of the day we were whooped!

Pointing at anemone. Sticky little buggers!

Purple star fish

Fort Clatsop

Astoria Tower

Tower close-up

From the top of Astoria Tower

Flying Planes

Long Bridge!

Wow! We are so blessed! Since Ben and I had a few more days before we both go back to school, we decided to take a trip the the Oregon Coast. Little did we know we were going to get the grand tour!

Early morning sunrise on the drive.

Cool bridge!

Cape Meares

The Octopus Tree

Sunset Love

Day 1:   We met my Aunt Marsha and Uncle Dennis in Tillamook. There we visited the cheese factory, had icecream, saw the Cape Meares Light House, and the octopus tree. We ended of the night with dinner, a walk on the beach at sunset, and falling fast asleep at the beach house.

Ben's Birthday!

For Ben's Birthday we got together with the Talbot family up in the south hills. We took the grill and had a bbq, fished, played in the stream, and sat around and talked. It was a gorgeous day and tons of fun! Happy 26th birthday babe!

Noodles!!!

Quit... don't quit. Noodles... don't noodles. You are too concerned with what was and with what will be. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.

Love the superb concentration!

Perfect noodles

We hadn't really been to any garage sales since we lived here, so a few Saturdays ago we decided to get up and go around. I couldn't believe how many people had sales going on! We ended up with a grilling cookbook and this noodle maker. Ben made some no egg noodles with half whole wheat, half regular flour. They turned out amazing! Mmmmm! Can't wait to make more! Noodles...don't noodles.....no definitely noodles!

Hogle Zoo

This huge elephant was awesome! I love the carving/etc. If I could I would put one in my backyard!

Sleepy Sloth

Monkey Bars...Literally!

Wondering why the picture is blurry? This owl almost hit my head!

Painting? Nope, these two were sitting on branches right
next to the glass! It was soooo cool!

On of my favorite parts was the giraffe exhibit where you can go up on this
walkway and see them eat right next to you!

The park's theme right now is Zoorasic so there are giant dinosaurs all over the park.
They are robotic and do thinks like move, growl, spit water...kind of fun.

Ben had a Portuguese test to take in Provo to get his college humanities credits, but the test only lasted a few hours, so afterwards we decided to go to the Hogle Zoo. Ben didn't remember really ever going to a zoo, so we thought it would be fun. It was really hot, so a lot of the animals were lazy and sleepy, but it was fun. They had a really good bird show. I wish you could see it better from the pictures!

Bear Lake 2011

First timer!

Not so much a first timer! If you look close, the wake from the boat is to
he right...let's just say she didn't make it around before the wake hit!
Cool picture though!

Taking a new battery to the boat that decided to die in the middle of pulling Cordigan!

Cord Skimboarding

Feelin' the love!

This is the life!

After we stopped having the Carpenter extended family reunions, we started our own little family reunion at Bear Lake. My mom and dad do an amazing job of getting everything organized and letting everyone cram into the trailer with them! Everyone chips in with food, packing, cleaning up....the works! It's such a nice break from the rush of everyday life, as you can see, even little Evelyn kicks back!

 -Thanks everyone for the fun!

Ben's got a dream....he's got some dreams!!!

Just getting started!

I think he's a little up to his head....what do you think?

Happy Guy

Exhausted after wiggling out!

Ewww!!!! Need I say more?!?

Haha, Ben started telling me days before we left to go to Bear Lake that he wanted to be burried in the sand. Knowing how much the sand already sticks to you, I thought he was crazy! Regardless of what I thought, he still asked almost the moment we got there. Finally the second full day there, he talked the kids into burrying him. He loved it every bit as much as he thought he would [Grandma Carpenter on the side freaking out that he would be claustrophobic]! When we got home he told me how much fun it will be to have his own kids burry him in the sand........what a big kid!