A Weekend in the Mountains

This past weekend we headed to Bend, Oregon to visit with Jason's brother and his family. They chose to spend their family vacation in Bend and invited us to join them. We stayed in a house they rented for the week--it was a total shack (see below). The house was located on 300 acres of secluded ranch land--complete with horses and a barn, a pond with its own beach, separate living quarters for the caretakers of the ranch, and beautiful mountain views. If you've never been to Central Oregon you must go to see the mountains that exist there. In any given place you can see at least three mountains, if not four, five or six! It's incredible! The house was so big we had our own wing to sleep in, with the kids in one room and Jason and I in another. I felt like saying, "I'm retiring to the west wing, darling. Make sure you have Charles draw my bath in the morning." We stayed in this room, and this was our view:

Jason and Todd went skiing on Mt. Bachelor while the kids played around the ranch. They explored the pond, petted the horses, watched a movie, and even tried sliding down the staircase with blankets before we put a stop to that idea. Mariah put on a "fancy dinner" the night before we left and we celebrated Grant's and Austin's birthdays for dessert.

We had a great time and were truly spoiled beyond belief to stay in such a beautiful place. The kids had fun, as they always do with their cousins. Thank you, Todd and Sarah, for putting us up--or at least putting up with us!