Girl Hike! - Talapus Lake

Jess and I decided to take off for the day and do a girl hike. I told her she could invite Jacob or one of her girlfriends, but she wanted it to just be the two of us. I'm glad! It made me feel really good that she wanted to hang out with just me. I love doing things with her!!

We took off to do the Talapus Lake trail. We had never been here before, and it was extremely beautiful. Of course, everything in the mountains is beautiful, but I was just especially enjoying it today. It was so peaceful and there were so many beautiful things to look at and we had some great conversation.

Heading out.

We found this rock on the trail and thought it was so cute.

Of course, as with most hikes in the Pacific Northwest, we got to see a lot of little waterfalls along the way. There are always little creeks and brooks around which makes for some great photo opts.

There were a ton of lightning burned out trees up there!

Talapus Lake

Eating lunch on the lake

Olallie Lake is about a mile from Talapus Lake. We were waffling on whether or not to keep going, and I am super glad we did. This second lake is smaller, but much more peaceful and beautiful. There were not a ton of people up there, but everyone seemed to be stopping at Talapus, so Olallie was super quiet. We sat for a long time and just watched the fish jump and talked.

It was so funny, because we had been sitting for a little while and were getting chilly, so we put our sweatshirts back on. (We had them tied around our waists most of the time.) Jess must have had her sweatshirt folded over because when she put it on she had a sweat mark on it that was a mirror image of the lettering. We laughed about that for a while and had to get a picture of it.

I had a ton of fun hanging out with Jess today. I LOVE being with my kids and it's just great to get some one on one time once in a while. Thanks for going with me Jess!

More Birthday Celebrations

Damon came over and spent a couple of nights with us this week, and last night we took him out for his birthday. Since he loves bowling so much we went to Acme and bowled with the blacklights for over an hour, then came home to ice cream and speed Uno.

Happy Birthday Damon!!!

Happy Birthday Jeffery!

Jeff turned 20 today and I can hardly believe it. Time has gone by so fast. Why, I was younger than that when I birthed him. CRAZY!

Happy Birthday Jeffery

Papa Murphy's for dinner

A Shutterfly Baby Book - Jeff's first year!

Video games too of course

DQ for dessert.

Jessi's First Job

Jessi just got hired for her first job. It was really a lightening strike she got so lucky! She applied for Fred Meyer on Wednesday, she got a call for an interview Thursday morning. Her interview was for Friday morning. They told her they would call her later the next week, Wednesday or Thursday, for a second interview. They called Monday morning.

Second interview went really well but they had four more interviews to go and would get back to her around Thursday. Well, today is Tuesday and she got the job. She just has to go in tomorrow for the official "offer" and get things set up. I guess she must have really left an impression because it all moved super fast. It should be a good job for her to get her through High School until she takes off for College.

Good job (ha, pun) Jess!!!

Spray Falls

Spray Falls was our destination today. We couldn't do too long of a hike because Jeff got called into work tonight last minute, but we had enough time. It was a fairly easy hike with a ton of beautiful little waterfalls along the way.

Stopping at Eagle Ridge for a rest and snack. We didn't see any Eagles, and we couldn't even see the mountain because it was very cloudy where we were. Oh well, still beautiful.

Lots of different terrain to go over

Finally to our destination. this is where we ditched the backpacks to cross the river and get the best view of the falls.

You know, it is really hard to capture the true beauty and scope of a place in a picture. These falls were so amazing. A great place to have lunch and explore!

Another amazing hike for the record books.

Owen Beach

Jeff had the day off today, so we were looking for something to do together. Usually we hike on Sunday, but for some reason non of us were really feeling a huge hike today. We have been to Point Defiance Zoo enough times, but have never been to Owen Beach that is right there, so we decided to check it out. What a nice little spot. We had a lot of fun, and will probably go hang out there again some time.

Summit Lake

We had an awesome Sunday hike today and left semi early this morning so that Jeff could come with us before he had to go to work tonight. Jess didn't come though. She said she was tired and had a headache so she stayed behind. It is very rare that all four of us have time, or desire all at the same time. But, alas, we still had a ton of fun without her.

We took off for Summit Lake by Mt. Rainier. We had been in that area hiking before but had never been to the Lake. So amazing!

A huge rock in the middle of the road on the way up the mountain. Good luck guys! I think it's there for a reason, too big to move. (Ironically it was gone on the way back down. There must have been someone stronger behind us :o)

First view of Mt. Rainier.

First view of the Lake. So beautiful!!

We were so hot and sweaty, and the lake so inviting that we just couldn't resist. Off came the shoes, socks and shirts and in we went. It was cold, but so refreshing. And so clear and blue. It was so beautiful. Jeff said it was like swimming in freezing Windex. Dork! :o)

We will definitely head back to this lake in the future! We will have to go some time when we have more time and don't have to rush off for Jeff to go to work.

Jeff want's to make it a guy backpacking trip and spend the night. The boys would have a ton of fun up there. I would be jealous, because I would have a ton of fun too.