All's Quiet Here Now.........

Our friends who have been at our house for the last 2 weeks left yesterday for a 3 day visit to some friends up north of here. It is the perfect break for us. Even though they are not staying in the house with us, (they are staying in their motorhome using our hookups) (our motorhome is down the street at some friend's house) they are in here most of the day. We eat dinner together each night so there is always the conversation over what to cook. I'm used to being the one to decide what to eat for dinner. It throws me off when the husband says to me "I took some pork chops out of the freezer for dinner tonight" I think since the wives are the cooks in the households they should at least have a say in what we are going to cook. I guess he tells her what they are having for dinner on a regular basis. Not so in my house. I ask my husband what he would like for dinner but mostly he just says, "I don't know, whatever you want"

So it is nice to have our space to ourselves again even if it's only for 3 days. They are dear friends but it's hard when you are used to only having the two of you here and suddenly there are four of you. No plans yet for the weekend. We will go to the gym this morning and then maybe come home and plant some ground cover on the slope along the side of our house. I'll take a picture of the new garden hubby put in our front last week. We added two Japanese Maples and a century plant (which is beginning to bloom) and some ornamental grasses. Have a good day everyone.

A Day in the Woods...........

This is some of our group at the top of the falls.

This is me as we took off for our 2 mile hike through the forest and up and alongside the river back to the camp where we were to have our lunch.

This is the bottom of Watson Falls. This was also the beginning of our hike. We continued on to the top where the Falls comes over the mountains. These pictures came out in reverse order. We had a great time. I got a great workout. The first hike was very invigorating on a trail that was steep in places and climbed to the top and then down again. The brochure said it was .4 miles but we all agreed we hiked much further than that. Our second hike was 2 miles and started out on flat land so it was a relief after hiking uphill for the first to the waterfalls. But after a while we were climbing again. It took a little less than an hour and when we got back to the camp one of the couples had brought a barbecue grill and we had grilled hamburgers and everyone brought salads to go with them. We had Tabbouleh, spinach strawberry salad, carrot raisin salad, potato salad, green salad, 2 fruit salads. It was very refreshing. What a fun day. The ride home was much quieter than the ride there as we were all pretty tired from our hiking. I felt like I got a pretty good workout so I didn't feel like I needed to go to the gym. This morning I feel great and I am ready to head out to the gym and then get some planting done out front.

Relief at Last....

I am happy to say that since I visited my doctor and he removed a little of the saline in my LapBand I have found relief at last. No more having to sleep in the recliner or with numerous pillows under my head. I am able to just go to bed and sleep. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to just be able to sleep and not be afraid to take a sip of water after 6pm. The band had gotten a little tighter over time and just needed a little taken out. Ahhhhh!

Today we are going on a picnic and hike with a group from our church. Our friends that are visiting us will be going with us. We are going to a waterfall in our area. Oregon has many, many waterfalls and this particular one we've never been too. I am looking forward to seeing it. I'll take my camera so I can share what it looks like. In our area there are 6 or 7 really pretty waterfalls. We've only been to one of them so now we'll be able to scratch this one off the list of to do waterfalls too. I made some potato salad to take with us and my friend Eileen made carrot raisin salad. After our hike we'll be having barbecued hamburgers and the salads. Everyone is to bring a salad and the burgers and drinks and utensils are being provided. The hike to the waterfall is only 1/2 mile but there is also a two mile hike for those who want to take it. I am going to go for the 2 mile hike since I won't be able to go to the gym today. That way I'll get my exercise in too.

It's been a productive weekend. My hubby put a mound on our front yard and we planted 2 Japanese Maple trees that we've had in large planters on it. We also put a century plant and several ornamental grass plants on it. We put fences around the maples to keep the deer from eating them and the other plants are deer resistant. I'll try and get a picture of it too. We also put a 2 tiered wall around it with stacking blocks. It looks so pretty.