Fourth of July Camping Trip

Over the Fourth of July, we went on a camping trip to the beautiful Trask mountains (I had never been there before but it's only about an hour away from Newberg through Carton/Yamhill, etc). We went with 12 other people and of course, I volunteered to plan all the meals and do all the shopping...that was my first mistake! Oh well, it turned out great even though I felt like a needed a vacation from my vacation. The story of my life as an over-acheiver.

Anyway, we did some four-wheeling and the guys that came were into dirt bike riding so they were gone most of the three days on their adventures in the woods. Here are some pics of the campsite:

This was taken the ONLY day out of the three days we were there that the sun came out. The rest of the time it misted constantly and got very cold. Of course, I assumed that since the weather was in the 90's in Newberg before we left I didn't need to bring one stitch of warm clothing. Murphy always shows up when assuming is involved... so I had to borrow some things from my little sis. Here she is with her hubby, Jake...taken when we first arrived to our campsite.

Isn't she cute? It was her birthday on July 3rd (when this pic was taken) and since we're only 11 months apart, we're both 27 right now. It always tripped people out when we were younger when they asked us if we were twins and we responded with a smile, " No, but we're the same age." Hee hee...my birthday is July 27th so we're only the same age for three weeks but it was still fun to see the looks of confusion on people's faces... Here are some pics of my attempt to make her 27th birthday as special as it could be roughing it in the woods...homemade cake, pinwheels, dollar store tablecloth and all! :)

So, between cooking, cleaning and telling everyone what to do because no one else was taking any initiative (my forte ;)) I took some time for myself every morning to drink my coffee by the BEAUTIFUL creek/river we camped next to. My goodness, I can't even begin to explain the peace and the presence of God in that place (in all of nature for that matter). When you take away all the distractions of every day life: the cars, the cell phones, the radio, work, bills, and all the other noise that can cloud our vision/hearing of the Lord, you come face to face with the Creator. The Lord and I had some very good talks in those morning hours...I took a mental picture of the view from the little rock I sat on every morning so I could revisit it back in the chaos of this world.

It was my first time riding on a four-wheeler that weekend and my sis is a pro so I rode on the back of hers. It was raining (of course) when we went, so imagine going through the woods at around 25 mph with water slapping in your face, bouncing through potholes, leaning around corners, getting splashed with mud. It was an absolute blast but didn't help the fact that there were no showers to be had afterwards...

And this is us doing some poses by the river and cracking up the entire time: :) We are such nerds.

All in all it was such a fun trip. I could go camping every week if I had the opportunity! I put some other pics on my sidebar-check them out!