Sunshine and roses (and dahlias)

Point Defiance Park in Tacoma has an incredible rose garden. We've been exploring there before, we find something new every time we go. This time, we were particularly delighted with the dahlia experimental garden. I had no idea dahlias were so diverse and beautiful!

I only had my cell phone, but I took a bunch of pictures anyways. Here's some of my favorites...

Camping

Two weekends in a row we went camping in Oregon. The first weekend was a trip to the Bend area, where we camped with our neighbors Sarah and Scott and a group of their friends and family. We had a big group site next to a river, but without potable water and only a pit toilet. It was a great site, except for the extremely fine dust/dirt that was everywhere, and since there wasn't showers or water, the dust got all over us and the tent. But it was great company!

On Saturday we drove an hour and a half from the campsite to Crater Lake National Park. We figured that was as close as we'd ever get to the park, so we might as well visit! There was a forest fire burning just on the western rim of the crater, so as the day went on, it got more and more smokey.

The water in the lake is absolutely incredible.

The next weekend, we met my college friend Jeremy and his wife and kids down by Tillamook, OR. It was about 30 degrees cooler on the coast (as you can tell by our attire!). We got cheese at the cheese factory, played on the beach, and played Apples to Apples around the campfire.

Since we got back we've been having some fun in the kitchen. We tried a new recipe for whole wheat bread cooked in the cast iron dutch oven and it turned out great. Then we made homemade pasta for dinner one night, which was fun. After 14 years, we're getting pretty good at working together in the kitchen!