A Man of Many Talents

Doug drew this whole thing upside down. Astonishing.

Andy at 31 weeks

Taken August 1.





Yummy toes!





Compare Kate at 31 weeks.

Multnomah Falls

On the way back from Portland we made a detour and went to see Multnomah Falls. We stopped by Vista House, which overlooks the Columbia River Gorge. What a view!







Another shot of the view. This is the kind of place I would like to just sit and watch the light change.

Next stop: Multnomah Falls.



There's a whole string of waterfalls in the area. This is definitely the most spectacular (and most crowded).




I couldn't fit the whole falls in, without a wide-angle lens, but I did take multiple pictures and put them together. Here's my result:



We'll have to go back sometime, when the kids are older (and it's not so hot) and take the trail up to the bridge. Or even, if we're feeling ambitious, all the way to the top!

Brian and Rachel's Wedding

At the end of July we went down to Portland for Doug's brother Brian's wedding. (Brian and Rachel have been together for twelve years and finally got married! Yay!) This was our second trip to Portland for a family gathering this year. It was nice to be getting together for a wedding this time rather than a funeral.



Here's Andy with his Uncle Al. Al is only a couple of years older than Doug, but he has grandkids who are older than Andy. (Yep, we got a late start.)

Al drove out from Utah with his wife Margit. Erika and Mom came up from Klamath Falls. Melody came without the rest of her family this time (in fact we were the only ones who brought kids, which made things considerably less hectic).

We camped out in tents in the back yard, but I ended up bringing Andy inside. I think maybe he didn't like the slippery sleeping bag.




Brian and Rachel have some gorgeous flowers in their yard!

The evening before the wedding, we were all (except Brian and Rachel) sitting on the back porch talking, so I got out the camera. Andy got passed around a lot.













Lots of preparations the next morning, including the impromptu creation of a fruit centerpiece. (Mostly fruit, that is.)

The wedding was held at a nearby park. I got to be the photographer, and spent most of the time circling the area with my long lens on, clicking away. (The lighting was blotchy. Tricky!)



Erika was Best Woman.



Brian with Erika and Mom.



Rachel's nieces McKayla and Zoe were the flower girls.



The bride walked down the aisle to "She'll Make Me Happy" from The Muppets Take Manhattan.













The attendants (that's Erika's Vomiting Sparrow tattoo--it's a Burning Man thing).











Kate really wanted to go to the playground on the other side of the park, and kept asking about it. She had to wait a long time, but she did pretty well.






The wedding party (Erika was doing something else at this point).



The happy couple!



Rachel with her sister Sarah.




Kate had some fun playing with McKayla.





Melody and Mom.



Food!








Marion berry and poppy seed cake.



Yum!



(We had changed Kate by this point.) This was right at the beginning of that week that was so beastly hot. After this we went back to the house and sat in the living room with the little struggling air conditioner. I was too hot to get up and go rummage around in the hot tent for something cooler to wear.



Family picture the next morning, missing Dad and Craig.