Salmon River Hike

On the first weekend in December we went for a short hike along the Salmon River Trail in the shadow of Mt. Hood. It was incredible. Winter hikes are great.

There was a light dusting of snow on the trail.

Big old growth Douglas-fir trees lined the trail.

Enjoying the view of the Salmon River.

Eli was thrilled to be in the woods. She was constantly looking around checking everything out. After about 45 minutes on the trail she passed out and enjoyed a nap on my back.

Working our way back to the car.

The Salmon River looked real cold.

Stiles Cousins

This post has been in purgatory for too long. My bad. My cousins from Colorado visited back in August. We fired up the BBQ and hung out on the back deck. Good times.


Adam gets his baby Eli fix.


Jessie's turn to get her baby fix.


Patrick and Adam looking tough.


Sue and baby Eli.


The Stiles Clan.


Best of all Patrick has an awesome Stiles tattoo on his back! This is awesome Patrick. Check out the Stiles family crest on the Stiles Family of America website.

Aspen, Halloween, Floors

It's been busy since our last post: we travelled to Aspen, Halloween happened, we had the wood floors in our house redone, Eliana's two bottom teeth came in and now we are blessed with her first cold.

Team Stiles on the move with the Maroon Bells in the background. Weather was perfect!

Eli and Greg at the Continental Divide (obviously)...

It was cold and sometimes we are bad parents.

Getting ready for Halloween in her outfit from Nana.

Greg cooking up our Halloween lobster dinner.

We moved out to our friend's house for a week so that the floors could be refinished and had to remove furniture from all three of the bedrooms. This is where we slept the night we came back - in the kitchen.

The house is almost put back together and we are so pleased with the results. Jeff at Select Wood Floors did a really good job.

It's been a great fall, but now we are dreaming of powder.

The last couple of weeks...

Eliana loves her "Baby Vegas". I love it because it allows me to take a shower, dry my hair and eat breakfast. YES!

This baby has discovered her feet. She particularly enjoys checking them out when she is sans diaper.


Over the weekend, Greg and Eli raked the leaves from the maple tree in front of our house. This was her first ride in the frame pack. Both she and Greg gave it the thumbs-up.

Eli has a new favorite toy

Bringin' back the cowgirl

Yesterday Greg, Eli and I went up to our friends Carrie and Brad's place. They purchased 40 acres about a year ago near Scappoose - just a short drive from St. Johns. Carrie and I grew up in Glide and rode horses together as kids on her parent's ranch. Now she and Brad have 4 horses and so they needed an extra person to go riding with them. I, of course, was happy to oblige. I haven't ridden for at least 5 years and it felt great. It's still one of my favorite things to do and now that I have easy access to a horse, Greg might not be seeing me too much on the weekends! The idea of buying some acreage and having horses again is really tempting. Until then, I know where to get my fix.

First Bites

Today was a big day! Eliana tried her first rice cereal, we walked in the Mayor's Walk and then went to watch cyclocross at Alpenrose. All sorts of fun for Team Stiles!