A hike worth having

Last weekend on Saturday Alicia and I took the pups, Toby and Monty, for a nice long hike in the gorge. (I practically had to drag Alicia out there seeing as she HATES hiking;) Somehow in all the times I've hiked out in the gorge I missed Triple Falls so that's where we headed.

Saturday could not have been a more perfect day for a hike! With fall in the air, the changing colors in the trees and even a bit of sunshine we were ready to get our hike on!

After starting my morning with a lovely chat with Adam (YAY!:), who was busy having fun celebrating his two best friends' wedding, Alicia and I hit the road. We made fabulous time getting out there and headed up the trail. What a b-e-a-utiful hike! So many waterfalls to see and just the right amount of switchbacks and incline lol. Hikes like that make remember when I was younger and my dad used to take us out every weekend to hike some where new. He would always say, "be quiet, walk softly, listen and you'll hear some interesting things." After all these years, I finally have it down:) Not too mention spending some time with my roomie:) The hike was long, but worth every second! Enjoy some shots from the day of exploring and fun!

 the view

 roomies!

 SO pretty!

 Toby the trooper:)



 Alicia may or may not have slipped and fallen lol

Toby was DONE! :)

My first away Timber's match!

The last momentous part of our Canadian adventure weekend was attending my very first Timber's away game. Granted I just became a fan this year, but even still, I.was.EXCITED!! Adam was really excited too:) He loves that I am such a good fan!

The game was at 1:30 on Sunday and since they were escorting all 500 traveling Timber's Army fans into the stadium together we all met at a local restaurant to march the streets, chanting together around 11:00 a.m. We were an IMPRESSIVE bunch for sure!

 Adam and I outside the meeting restaurant all geared up!

 Lining up to march the streets to the stadium:)

 There was a LOT of chanting of course! The stadium looks like a crown!

 Adam doing what he does best:D

 Somos Timbers, Vamos a ganar!!!!

 Got ourselves a flag and everything!

 Waiting to get into the stadium

 Awesome new pitch!!

 :) :) :) ♥

 We have impressive fans...even away

 Our boys coming to say hello:D

 Excited after a Timbers' victory over Vancouver 1-0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Farewell Canada...thanks for a super memorable time!

Magic words ♥

Saturday night in Canada was by far my FAVORITE part of our trip ♥ *I'm going to share something that is personal and special to me, but since I put so much of me into my blog, it seemed strange to leave it out:)

I have been wanting and waiting-VERY patiently- to tell Adam that I love him for a couple of months now;) We have been seeing eachother since around the first of the year, officially since Aprilish and Saturday night after we got home from being out on the town I could simply wait no longer.
We were snuggling after coming home from a long day and night out in B.C. when I turned to him and told him that I had something to tell him, but that I didn't want him to say anything afterwards. I didn't want him to feel pressured to say it back.
I looked up at him as we cuddled and said the words I've been wanting to say since we walked home from The Hutch two months ago and he jumped in front of me to karate-chop the spider webs out of the way especially for me (Adam knows how much I HATE walking into spider webs!! :)
....
"I love you Adam." Then I kissed his cheek quickly and snuggled my face into his neck. INSTANTLY, I felt as though a weight had been lifted from my shoulders:)
To my wonderful surprise, he took my chin in his hands, looked me in the eyes and said, "I love you too babe." Then he kissed me:)
I can't imagine a more awesome feeling than that!! ♥ ♥ I have so very much enjoyed these last nine months with Adam more than anything and feel so grateful to have someone as special as him in my life. I can hardly wait to see what is yet to come for us!!

Even in Canada...I root for the TIMBERS!!!!

The weekend of Friday September 30-Sunday October 2 marked a momentous weekend for me in a few special ways... For one, it was my very first time visiting Canada! The Portland Timbers were playing Vancouver on Sunday so naturally, Adam and I decided to travel up there for the weekend to cheer on the team with the Army! I was pretty excited about this trip. My parents booked our timeshare for us to use right in downtown B.C. It was pretty posh and awesome! Definetely in the perfect location for roaming around and seeing the city!

View from our room on Friday

 Looking from the timeshare to where the stadium is located

 Love this face:)

He caught me getting curly lol

We got in pretty late Friday night, midnight to be exact, and checked into our room. Adam and I put our stuff down and rallied to hit the town! Ended up walking around to a few bars, had a drink at one place and headed back to the timeshare to get some sleep to be ready to explore B.C. tomorrow!

We woke up fairly early Saturday morning, showered and took in the view from our room, then headed out to find some breakfast before venturing to Granville Island! Lucky for me Adam has been to B.C. before so I had my own tour guide;)

Walking out of the timeshare, we were greeted by a small army of firetrucks, police and a hazmat truck...just what you want to see in the lobby of your building lol. Turns out there was an altercation with someone staying there, a wall was damaged and the plaster resembled anthrax...no big deal right?! They turned it into a training instead, no harm, no foul, but a VERY exciting start to our morning in B.C.

Our search for a Starbucks for coffee and breakfast proved interesting lol. We almost crossed Granville bridge, quite a jont from the timeshare without seeing ONE Starbucks!! How does THAT happen?? We ended up turning back to get the car because it started to rain and of course, not even a block from the timeshare in the opposite direction we originally chose was a Starbucks:) Yay for fuel!

Adam and I spent the entirety of Saturday, which ended up being pretty decent weather wise, walking around Granville Island and taking in the sights around Stanley park. Granville Island was a very eclectic little market full of food, fun crafts and interesting people to see.

 Welcome to Granville Island!

Me with B.C. behind me!

Decked out in Timbers' colors with my babe!

Stanley park was beautiful! Adam and I walked around the park by the water, saw some great totem poles, a few water planes take off, stopped to watch part of a rugby match and even met a few Timbers' fans biking around:)

 I like to be in trees!

 Timber's pride!!

 Exploring down by the water in Stanley park

♥ ♥ ♥

It was a fabulous day of adventuring with Adam, like always;) We also enjoyed a delicious dinner at a Chinese restaurant in the heart of B.C.

Somebody likes their Chinese!

Let me tell you...T.A fans put the weird in Portland lol! We got to the bar close to 5:00 after a quick stop off at the time share to relax for a bit after a day of walking around B.C. We immediately grabbed a beer and started enjoying some awesome Irish music from the live band! We ended up meeting a few Timbers' Army couples and hitting the town for some late night sushi and bar hopping in B.C.

We sat with our new T.A. friends at the game the next day:)

Turns out the bar hopping in B.C. is not as fun as in Portland...abundant lines and constant waiting everywhere makes getting a beer nearly impossible. Buuut, we finally ended up at the bar located downstairs from one of the couples' hostels they were staying at and enjoying the remainder of the night.

More to come on Canadian good times:)

Baker City special!

Friday September 23, 2011 Adam, Chris and I hit the road for Baker City, OR. Let me be clear that I was still unsure at this point where exactly Baker City was. Adam and Chris's friend from college was getting married. I was kind of excited because Adam asked me to be his date AND this would be our first wedding attended together:)

The drive was looooong. Chris, being the gentleman that he is took the front seat lol. I rode in the back and slept most of the time seeing as riding in the backseat is the equivalent to riding in your own little car. I may have also been slightly annoyed at being put in the back...Adam put me in a better mood once we had arrived:)

We got in late, around 11:30 pm and were fortunate enough to be sleeping in Greg's, the bride's brother, family camper. Turns out they have an amazingly kind family:) I met them the next morning when we woke up in their driveway lol. Wedding stuff going on like crazy! They let us shower and hang out in the main house, so nice! We grabbed some breakfast in town with Greg's dad, he even paid the tab. See what I mean? So awesome! The afternoon was spent watching the Beavs lose, lame, and helping with small wedding details around the house.

The wedding was just lovely and fit the couple, whom even though I had just met today I could tell:) It was outdoors, in their uncle's giant yard. We sat on hay bales for the ceremony and partied under a tent nearby behind the house. It was a great time considering I went into the evening only knowing a handfull of people. We drank, danced and laughed. I had my first official slow dance with my favorite fella too:) :) All in all it was a great wedding! We headed back around noon on Sunday and guess who got to ride shot gun? ;)

Annual camping extravaganza!

September 8-11 with now be known as the annual camping trip weekend at Clear Lake for this girl:) Although a first for me, my friends have been doing it for nearly a decade. From what I heard going into this trip, it was a weekend spent floating the lake and drinking around a campfire. What could be more fun than that?
We got extremely lucky with this year and had WONDERFULLY sunny weather the entire four days!! Thus the weekend was literally spent floating tied together in a giant island of inner tubes and rafts. Adam cooked us delicious food, lemon chicken sandwiches and steak! Don't forget the hotdogs:) Mostly it was just another fun time spent laughing with good friends. Can't wait for next year!

♥ this guy:)