B+N Engagement

Golden, warm sunshine sprinkling across the golden grasses.  A soft summer breeze gliding through the trees.  Two grinning faces clearly falling in love.  And one nervous new shooter trying to hide her quivers!  Thanks Brooke and Nathan for trusting me to capture your first blossoms of love as a newly engaged couple and for being confident in my meager skills as a budding photographer and for not expecting anything too extravagant.  ;) 

Thought I'd share a few of my favorites from the evening! Enjoy!

Looking forward to taking this couples wedding pictures next weekend!  Let's just say I'm a tad bit more nervous for that! ;)  But by God's grace, it'll hopefully go just as wonderuful as this engagement session!

riv time

Have I ever told you how adorable my nephew is?!  Yeah...roll your eyes...I know you want to...because you've heard me say it quite often!  ;)
He came over a few days ago for some gramma time and got some aunty time as well before I headed off to work!! As usual, the camera was at my hip waiting to catch Riv being Riv!  Here are the results.

First thing he did when we got outside was chase the dogs around with his bat.

After I yelled at Riv to stop hitting them and be nice, he put the bat away and apologized to the dogs! ;)

I was sitting on the slab and Riv thought it was halarious to try and hit me with the basketball. Ouch!

Then he discovered the steering wheel from the toy minivan comes out so he started chasing the dogs with it again!  Boys!

I taught him how to gas up the van.

Pop Ice!!!

Adorable!!

I love you Riv!

Vacation part 2

After the weekend with our cousins, we drove into New York to Lake George for a few days.

Touring the town at Lake George.  We ate at Unos for supper.

Visiting Fort Ticonderoga.

The Fort from above.

After visiting the fort, we went ziplining.  It was an experience!
A lot different than the last time I went ziplining. 
And my 50 year old parents did it too!!

  On Wednesday, we headed to Canada to Niagra Falls. 

First thing we did when we entered our room - walked straight to the window to check out the gorgeous view!

Our view of the falls from our window!

Eating at an expensive Italian restaraunt...pretty sure we woulda walked out if we'da saw the menus first...but it was kinda too late after we say down.  So we just shared 2 dishes instead!

Pretty sure I could do more than a few blog posts with all of our pictures of the falls.
 It. Was. Beautiful!

Falls at night.

Falls view from the American side...hard to get a full view.

Jesse insisted on eating here...we had to do some research to find the nearest one to please him. :)

Maid of the Mist - a boat ride right up to the falls

Fireworks over the falls on the 4th.  Somewhat of a dissapointment but it was still neat to be there.

Beautiful award-winning flowers outside of Vinny's Restaruant.

Lights that shine on the falls at night

Friday we left the falls and stayed in Buffalo for the night before flying out the next morning.  All in all it was a nice trip and I am excited to mark 'visiting Niagra Falls' off of my bucketlist!

 Sorry for the disorderly picts...I'm having quite the time making them go where I want them.  Stupid computers.  Wish it could read my mind.

Family blessings

There's something about family that is just hard to explain.  The inward bond of love that cannot be written in words.  The precious memories created that only those involved will ever understand.  The blessing given to us by our loving heavenly Father that cannot be replaced. And while this is very true for my immediate family, it goes beyond them. My extended family.  My church family.  My family of friends.  The opportunities available to spend time with my families are bittersweet.  The days and weeks before, are spent in anticipaiton of being together.  The time together is spent making memories, cherishing moments, and creating lasting ties.  But when the time comes to part, it's hard to let go.  The only thing that allows the goodbyes to be bearable, is the hope that we have to see eachother again.  If not in this world, then in the world to come. 

While this may sound sappy, it's true.  I love my families.  And I'm so thankful to my God who has given me these awesome blessings in my life to cherish. 

As you probably have guessed, I had a reason to write this post, and yes, it involves family!  This past weekend, Mom, Dad, Jesse, and I spent our first part of our vacation out East with my relatives from Rockville.  It was a blessing.  Many of them I haven't really spent much time with for at least 5 years, and let me tell you that 5 years changes ALOT!  At least for me at my age.  There's something about being 14 and being 19 when it comes to spending time with extended family.  I think I enjoyed it a whole lot better at 19 and I saw the blessing in it. 

So here's a snipet of our time together!

Our home by the ocean for 2 nights

Volleyball games

walks...I took pictures...

eating out at a seafood restaruant.

I felt brave and tried lobster...it was...interesting!

Saturday morning we all got up before 5 to go deep sea fishing.

It was an experience but I had fun!  We were all a little sore the next few days.
I know...that sounds wimpy, but those fish were HUGE! (well depends whose reading this...!)

Jesse, his fish, and the 1st mate...

Joanna and I after the advetenture...we both caught 5 each!

Eating the fish that we caught that day.  It was delicious!

Sunday night we were invited to the lake with several other families.

Some went skiing, others pontooned around the lake taking in the sights.

chillin' w/ my cuz's

Me, Josie, Joanna, and Taylor.
3 wonderful ladies and friends.

 So many memories.  Soo much hospitality and love was shown to us.  We are soo blessed.  Looking forward to my next trip out east!! Anyone's welcome!

More vacation posts to come...

Friend·ship

noun
1. The emotions or conduct of friends; the state of being friends
2. A relationship between friends created through a bond of love, likeness, and common faith
3. A special bond created between two or more people that is cherished and treasured for a lifetime

Synonyms
1. attachment, relationship, bond, tie
2. friendliness, harmony, affection, fondness, companionship
3. closeness, love, regard


As I was looking up definitions for friendship, I was struck by how cold, formal, and vague the words were that many dictionaries used to describe such an important, complex, and matchless word.  Of course, there's no way one dicionary could even begin to contain the whole definition of friendship.  It's endless.  And its unique to everyone.  It's a concept that is difficult to fully grasp, and definitely something that I take for granted.  It's easily destroyed if not properly cared for.  Fragile.  And it takes effort from both sides to nuture.   But it's truly one of God's greatest gifts that He has created for each of us.  Most importantly, the friendship He offers to us with Him - although this friendship is of a different and even more incomprehensible nature than our earthly friendships. 

So you see, this concept of friendship cannot fully be expressed in words.  It must be experienced, felt, treasured by each person, themselves.  And yet, we need to all understand its importance, its magnitude, and its influence in our life, continuously being thankful to the One who created it for us to embrace.  Thank You, Lord! 

And now to share with you some friendships that have recently entered my life, somewhat unexpectedly, but forever treasured in my heart.  And some others that have been in my life for many years, but grow more precious each day.  I love you all!

Leigha and Jody (1st two girls pictured L-R), some of Karla's friends from Kansas traveled to IL last weekend, and Karla was kind enough to share them with me! ;)

Saturday we spent the morning together horsebackriding up North.  Emily helps out at a horse-breeding farm and set up the day for us.  We had a blast!  Karla and I were the new-bees but I'd say that we got broke in real fast!  (sorry that this picture isn't very good...I couldn't get my horse to turn around or move for that matter...so yeah... I feel like I'm really big and everyone else is tiny!)
And speaking of relationships...My horse, Larry, and I became reeal good friends.  Actually...I kinda miss him...Snnifff sniff!  He was really kind and gentle to me, and I began to trust him with my life as our ride went on!  (and I'm really only exaggerating a tiny bit!)  For only riding a horse 2 others times, we did some pretty crazy things that I would only trust to special people, like Larry. ☺
Ok enough about Larry.  And he was pretty cute, by the way...

I enjoyed spending the day with these four beautiful ladies, and I hope to be able to spend some more time with them in the future! 

And to all my friends out there reading this post,  I want you to know that you hold a very special place in my heart.  I love you all very much, and praise God for giving me so many beautiful friends in my life!