Backpacking

We spent a glorious weekend backpacking with Mom, Dad, and Durant. Mom and Dad Fish showed off their gorgeous home state of Oregon by taking us on a hike in the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness. This was Luna's first ever backpacking trip, and we were a little nervous about how she would do carrying her own pack and sleeping outside in the wild. Turns out we were nervous for nothing! 

taking her on a practice walk around the neighborhood with her makeshift pack

she carried her own food, bowl, and cable

It sure was one hot weekend! As we were driving down to Oregon it hit 100 degrees!

good thing the hike was near the mountains and fully wooded to keep us out of the heat

about to head out

on the trail

a view of camp

our tiny tent, with room just enough for 2!

At night Luna snuggled right up next to us underneath the tent fly. 

chopping wood for the fire

hangin' with my girl

 

playing games with the pup

our camp was just feet from the river . . .

. . . which was perfect for filtering water 

on our way back out!

Thanks for a fun trip, Mom and Dad!

Weekend

This past weekend was filled with fun! We watched the Olympics, went to the Clark County Fair, and hosted an extended family dinner.

One of our New Year's resolutions was to go on weekly dates. Nothing extravagant or expensive, but making sure to set aside quality time each week for just the two of us. We've tried labeling one day of the week as "date night", but our work and school schedules don't always match up. Instead we decided to take turns planning a date on any day of the week. Last week was my turn, so I planned a low key Olympics date for Friday night. We watched the opening ceremony, wore our Brazil jerseys, and even munched on some "Olympian" candy. Get it? peach rings = olympic rings. . . haha that was the best we could do.

On Saturday we went to a BBQ for the extended Fish side of the family. Afterwards we spontaneously decided to go to the Clark County fair with just the immediate fam.

the whole crew

just the B-Fish fam 

roping steer (well. . .really just a bale of hay)

roped himself a hay bale!!

I was so close!

cowgirl photo booth

 we made our own rope necklaces, which have now been turned into dog toys

bee keeping exhibit

cutie Danner boy

The horse barn was practically empty, but one girl (she was about 12 years old) was brushing her horse  and offered to let me pet him.  I got to spend 5 minutes petting Bugsy the horse and I was in heaven. But I also walked away with major horse envy!

my favorite part of the fair

classic fair picture

On Sunday we hosted an extended family dinner (Heppler side). We have extended family dinners every first Sunday of the month. This month was our turn to host! Since our house is tiny, we decided to instead have the dinner at a park near our house. Lugging the grill over to the park was a little bit of an adventure, but other than that, the dinner was fabulous! And afterward we played croquet and adventured at the park with the little ones.

nephew and uncle playtime

Other highlights from this week include some major bragging moments. Bragging moment #1 would be our small garden success! We planted a garden back in May and it's been so fun to see it grow. I'm not much of a gardener, so I was surprised and thrilled when the vegetables were big enough for us to eat! We planted lettuce, cucumbers, green onions, tomatoes, peas, and corn (lol). Tonight we ate salad made completely from our garden veggies (proud wife moment)! 

our tiny garden 

chopped and ready for the salad!

Bragging #2: After camping for 3 weeks (literally) we had no food in the house. So I stocked up on all the essentials (gatorade, juice, cereal, bread, milk, pizza, macaroni . . . don't judge us). And what do ya know? 52 items for 52 bucks! That's right my friends  . . . I'm moving up on the coupon clipping ladder!

Bikes, Hikes, & Sunrises

July was our month of family vacations and outdoor living. It included the Lambert Family reunion in Seattle, a week of High Adventure for Brodie, Girl's Camp for me, 3 year anniversary, church Pioneer Trek for the both of us, and a visit to Camas from my parents. 

As promised in a previous post, here is a finished photo of the "bike barn" that Brodie constructed. Now hopefully our bikes won't mold and rust out in the rain. 

Are razor scooters still cool? 

Like I mentioned, July was the month of outdoor living. Especially on the Pioneer Trek. For 4 days Brodie and I trekked out in the wilderness with a group of over 300 youth ages 14 - 18 years old. We were "Ma and Pa" of a family of 10 youth. Our responsibility was to get our family safely through the 30 miles of trek. We dressed in pioneer clothing, pushed our belongings in handcarts, and even danced at the hoe-down. Lots of dust, sleeping outdoors, and no showers meant that we came home covered in dirt and sweat. But it was all worth it! More pics will be posted when I get them. But for now, this is what I got!

accidental selfie on the way to trek. notice Brodie's sweet beard!

beautiful 5am sunrise on the way to trek

post trek nap

We definitely keep ourselves busy! The day after we returned from trek, my parents came for a quick 2 day visit! We sure crammed a lot into those two days. We played lawn games at the park, hiked Angel's Rest, went to the movies, hiked Beacon Rock, visited the dog park, and ate lots of delicious food. Thanks for coming, Mom and Dad!

Angel's Rest

Beacon Rock

Marriage Year 3

Happy Anniversary to us! Happy Anniversary to us! Happy Anniveeeeersary dear uuussss, Happy Anniversary to us!

Wahoo! We have officially hit 3 years of marriage! We spread our celebrating over a few days because our anniversary was on a Tuesday, the day before we left on the church pioneer trek. We needed to wake up at 4:30am for trek, which meant relatively early bedtime on the night of our anniversary (and don't forget last minute packing since we're both procrastinators).

In the time that we did have, we celebrated by . . .

. . . going out to breakfast Saturday morning at Natalia's Cafe! Even though this cafe is only 2 blocks from our house, we have never been and I've always wanted to go. I call it the "Luke's Diner" of Camas. Very cute, quaint, and delicious!

. . . spending the day at Camas Days Festival. This is a downtown city festival that attracts literally thousands of people! Over 10,000 people came over the course of the 2 day festival. We watched the parade, shopped the booths (Brodie picked out some adorable earrings for me), and ate our fair share of BBQ food. Later that night we met up with neighborhood friends for some games.

. . . having family over for dinner on Sunday. Thanks for the delicious dessert, Mom Fish! 

. . . eating out and watching our favorite shows. On the day of our anniversary, Brodie had work. Which meant that we had only a few hours that night to get out and have some fun. We went downtown to eat out and were about to go for dessert, when instead we had to stop at the local hardware store to get ant traps for the newly discovered ant infestation in the bathroom. After that our plans went down the drain and we instead opted for a lazy night in watching our favorite Netflix show. Not very romantic, but still a fun evening with my other half. Nobody I would rather be lame and lazy with than Brodie Macklin Fish!

Highlights from Year #3 of Marriage 

first rental home in Camas

halfway through chiropractic school 

making new friends in the ward and neighborhood

girl's weekend in Utah

first Christmas tree!

surprise birthday getaway to Hood Canal

Valentine's weekend trip with the Pratts

Keri & Nathan's Wedding

2 new nephews - Davey & Camden

Derek & Faye's wedding

high adventure 

girl's camp 

trek

I love you, Brodie Macklin!! Here's to writing more and more anniversary posts until the day I die!

Seattle Summer

Even though June is the official start of summer, it doesn't really start to feel like summer until July. And it feels even more like summer when I am home in Seattle with my whole family! Spending one week together was definitely a highlight. 

The first day was spent downtown at Safeco Field cheering on the Mariners. 

some nephew snuggles

the whole gang - lots of strollers and lots of kids! And if you didn't catch the matching t-shirt memo, it was Italian night!

Our next main event was the family "Ragnar" around Lake Sammamish. For the last 4 summers I've run Ragnar, a 200 mile relay race. This year, since nobody signed up for a Ragnar, we were all feeling the Ragnar withdrawals. Especially my mom. Which is why she created a homemade relay race around the lake, which totaled 26 miles. Our team consisted of myself, Brodie, mom, Amy, Mel, Dave, and of course Luna :) 

 

one tuckered out pup

And of course, no trip to Seattle would be complete without lots of water sports. Both Brodie and I tried surfing for the first time (my new fave) and took some spins on the wakeboard. 

Other activities included lots of baby snuggles, raspberry picking, game nights, s'mores, and 4th of July dinner + fireworks. 

workin' my baby napping magic during Relief Society

we picked 29 pounds of raspberries!! And thanks to Mel, now we have yummy jam :)

s'mores down at the lake 

After s'mores we watched the firework show over Lake Sammamish from the boat. Putting 15 people onto one boat was a little squishy, but we managed. Brodie and I were right up front, hence our "wind in our faces" picture below.

and to wrap it up. . . a picture of our lovely faces