A little bit of life

Last week I got to spend a lot of time with these two girls. Maybe it was the intoxication of the fair food, maybe it was the country music, or getting caught in the rain with them. Whatever it was I couldn't help but reminisce about how these girls have taught me to be a little bit country. Because of them I have ridden a horse, learned to love country music, sung at the top of my lungs at countless country concerts, looked at steer butts, cheered on pooper scoopers at the community parade, learned about: rodeo, fair, farm life, working hard, toughening up. All of these things are memories and lessons that I cherish.

Grandpa Jeep

Mom and Dad recently spent a few days with their darling granddaughter. She is almost one! I can't believe it! Mom has always been head over heels for her but Dad seems to be falling more and more in love with this little girl! Of course he loved her to begin with but now he will just start laughing to himself as he's thinking about her, tell stories about her, and count the days until he gets to see her again.

Wedding Planner

She may not look it, but this woman, is my wedding planner. She has amazing taste in color, decor, flowers. She is original ideas. She has ideas old and new and fresh and different and classic all rolled into one. I can tell her what I'm thinking and she runs with it, coming up with something more interesting, dimensional and beautiful than I could have thought. Thank goodness she's on my team. She is going to make my wedding ideas realities.
Did I mention she's a lot of fun too?

Lost in the Rush

I thought I would have so much time.
Thought I would be bored, lazy, well-read, relaxed and rested.
Thought that I would wonder what to do with myself.

Here I am at the other side of my relaxing summer months wondering what in the world happened.
I had little time.
I was never close to bored, or well-read or well-rested. Possibly I was relaxed and maybe even a wee bit lazy once or twice.
I did not ever want for something to do with myself.

Instead I: laughed. sighed. talked. and talked. smiled. visited. caught up. read. not well-read, but read. splashed. lounged. ate. cooked. planned. packed. unpacked. repacked. drove. flew. biked. hiked. sang.

Danielle's Visit

I drank lots of delicious, local, only-in-Seattle coffee, recommended by our lovely guide Garrett,


ate a ridiculous amount of Belly Flops, Lauren and Danielle helped,


shopped with Naomi, almost cried when she left,


saw the sights (literally a hop, skip and a jump from Lauren's digs),



and remembered how much I miss her.

Bummin Around Bend

We spent the last weekend in Bend, OR visiting my cousin Brady. We miss him terribly so it was a lot of fun to go down and spend the weekend in his town and have him show us some of his favorite spots. We ate amazing food, drank local wine and beer selections, and got a taste of the hippy lifestyle. Brady rides his bike everywhere and I can see why! This town is so biker friendly and seriously it seemed like we didn't go a minute the whole weekend without spotting someone biking, kayaking, running, walking along their merry way.

Brady is Dominic's hero. It was obvious to see how much he loved spending time with him this weekend.
















My Aunt Christine never fails to liven the night up, this time, her costume of choice was an inflatable witch. She disappeared for a few minutes and returned in this. What a hoot!

On our way home mom and I stopped to see the Crooked River crossing. We laughed on the way down about it and vowed to actually pull the car over and explore it on our way home. Over the years we have crossed it many times on driving too or from California. It is the strangest thing, you are just driving along, unassuming landscape surrounding, and suddenly the earth drops out from underneath you.

Big Thunder

Dad was excited to have fellow riders on his favorite ride. When he and Mom go to the park together he has to ride it alone.

Dad's favorite ride is Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. He insists on keeping his hands up during the entire ride. This picture makes me smile because this was my first "roller coaster" and I will always hold close to the memory of Dad and I riding it with our hands up for the whole ride!