Catching Up! - Back to School Meiss Family

Oh its been a little bit, but to keep you updated... this was my first Back To School session with the Meiss Family! They were great!

Enjoy - M.

Logan & Landon

What a joy it was to capture these two boys! Logan is just a little squirt, and what a killer smile!

And this little guy...what a doll!

Ohhh so tired!

Enjoy!
M.

Happy Birthday Josie!

One Year old! This adorable little girl came to my house for her 1 yr photo shoot. She has a great personality which will take her far in life! Beautiful blue eyes, thanks for being such a good girl Josie! You were so easy to capture!

Enjoy!

M.

Seth Senior 2012

SETH! I used to babysit you! Where has the time gone?!

We had a nice evening for pictures and we even got to explore some new territory awesome old barns! :)

Congrats Seth! I wish you the best this senior year!

Enjoy -M.

My Trip to Oregon

BEWARE- Long Post Ahead! Oregon was absolutely A-maz-ing! Amy, Amanda & I flew into Portland the Wednesday before Labor Day... to spend a few extra days seeing the sights before we met up in Silverton, OR for the young group weekend. We woke up very Early! Our plane left Peoria at 6am, we were at security before it even opened!

View from the plane window as we get ready to land in Portland, OR

We landed and headed towards the rental car area! And then we were on our way to Sisters, OR. We had reservations for two nights at the Lodge at Suttle Lake.

On our way we saw lots of Forrest Fires!

I was a little nervous that there would be fires around Sisters and then we wouldn't be able to see the Mountains, because that same thing happened to our family in 2005 when we went to Sisters. There were fires there but they didn't fog up the scenery bad and we saw the gorgeous mountains.


Let me explain...Tuesday night I spent the night at Mandy's and I all of the sudden got horrible allergies... I was up through the night with a runny nose and at 3:30 AM when we got up to leave I took an Allerga-D, which normally dries me right up and I go on my merry way for the next 24hrs. NO- I had a runny nose in the car, in the airport, on the plane, in the rental car, EVERYWHERE it was bad! So when we went into the little cowboy town we stopped at Sisters Drug & Gifts (which sells vera bradley-btw) and I spent $23 on allergy products.

Excuse the double chin!



The Lodge where we stayed was beautiful! Everyone there were very accommodating, and it was nestled away from everything. When we checked in and went to our room they had the fire place on and it was super spacious! We loved it! (And yes we needed the fire place on...it was chilly!)




Mandy & I outside the Lodge




View from the Gazebo





We went to bed quite early because of the time change and our early flight we were shot! But we sure woke up early! :-) But it was nice to have a early start to a brand new day... brand new Birth-Day for me! And what a birthday it was!





Daily Devotions & Coffee/Tea by the Lake





We then went on a morning walk around the place, it was chilly and the lake and water was all misty. I looked at my phone and the temp out was 38!





There was a restaurant on site...the Boathouse Restaurant we ate breakfast there and then rented bikes and rode around the lake. It was 3.5 mi and we rode around twice!









Moss on the trees - Awesome Picture Mandy!













After our bike ride we drove on 242 McKenzie scenic highway. We had a good view of the three sisters mountains from there. It was a little curvy, but we ended up at Sahelee falls which were a sight to see!











Then we went to Bend, OR which is about 30 min past Sisters. We went out for my birthday supper at Carino's-awesome Italian.














After supper we went to Trader Joe's & Target because we had a little while before the sun went down and we wanted to go to Mt. Bachelor for the sunset. We got out of Target and made 20 round abouts in the town of Bend trying to find our way to Mt. Bachelor! We had to race to get there! The sun was just going down, but we made it! : )








Mt. Bachelor








The Three Sisters One thing I thought was neat was that the three sisters are at 3 different elevations and they are named... Faith...Hope...& Charity- the tallest Mt. is Charity.





And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.


1 Corinthians 13:13



Thursday night when we got back to the lodge it was dark and the stars were the most I have ever seen in my life! We sat out on the lawn by the lake and sang while we watched the stars...all of the sudden...ch-ch-ch-chchchchch-chch-chch-ch-ch...and we were getting WET! The lawn sprinkler system started up and we RAN for cover! Slopping drinks and all!





Friday morning we packed up and then quick headed into Sisters to get a last glimpse of the Mts.





What crisp morning!

Then we headed back to the airport to drop off the rental car and meet up with Betsy for the weekend, with a quick stop at Rosies for coffee and Marion Berry scones-Deli sh!

Saturday we went to Mt. Hood and ate lunch. This is Lake Trillium in the foreground.

Flowers on our walk...

Marissa & I stayed at Betsy's for the weekend. Good times!

Sunday we went to the coast... it was super misty/foggy so unfortunately we weren't able to see it very well.

This is our group in the back, bringing down the coolers for supper.

This was called proposal rock...haha, couldn't really see it that well!

We had a fire and sang a little bit before heading for home.

It was a great weekend to be with friends. And a birthday I will never forget! :)

Enjoy -M.