life happenings

I can't believe I'm actually saying this...but life might actually be slowing down a bit.
Yeah yeah...my wedding is THIS weekend, so maybe it's not slowing down THAT much, but it feels like it.
Decisions are basically done being made, plans are all coming together, shopping trips are over, and as impossible as it may have seemed a couple months ago, I think I am ready to get married!
Praise the LORD!

had a few work days... so thankful for the wonderful ladies who helped us!

cleaned & painted the house one week...

enjoyed spending the 4th with Kirk's family...

got all of our stuff moved to our new home!  Can't believe how much stuff we have already!!

don't let the picture fool ya... the did carry in a few boxes! ;) 

trying on our mother's wedding dresses at my personal shower!  So much fun!

photo shoots...

Love you girls!  So thankful for all that you've been doing...planning...hosting...and so much more.  You ROCK!

Survived all of our showers.  They were such a blessing!  It's overwhelming how many gifts we've recieved!

Enjoyed an evening out with these 2...gonna miss our random last minute times together...but know there will be sooo many other special memories together!

Spent 10 days in Washington state with mom n dad n Jesse...

went on a tour at the Boeing factory...watched planes take off and land.

went on a few different hikes...this one was by Mt. Rainer

spent a night in Victory, Canada...went to Butchart gardens...so many pretty flowers!

Jesse wasn't so thrilled about looking at flowers all evening so he hung out on the grass with his Ipod!

went to Olympic Nation Rainforest...once again Jesse was quite thrilled! ;) 

Had the opportunity to meet up with this beautiful girl and her family!  So thankful I was able to see you for a bit, Tay. Love you!

God showing His beauty in the clouds on my flight home!

It's hard to believe that in a few short days all of the planning and decision making that we've done over the last 3 months will be over.  Life will begin a new normal.  School will be starting. And time will march on.  But that's the way life is.  We plan things.  Spend time looking forward to them.  And just like that, they are over.  To everything there is a season.... Praising God for all of his wonderful blessings!

engagement pictures

So.  Not gonna lie, it's odd doing an engagement post about myself.

Life is just weird.
There's so much change. So many emotions.  So much adjustment.  And so little time!
But soo thankful to serve an amazing God who gives the grace to deal with so much change at once.

Pictures.
It was a cloudy night.
The sky didn't look very promising as we started out.
A few times we had to rush under the street canopies,
then rush out in between showers to snap some photos.
Puddles covered the road.
And everything was dripping.
But even though it wasn't the ideal weather, God still gave us much beauty to enjoy.
A rainbow was painted in the sky...they never cease to amaze me.
And the sunset was amazing.


And we had fun. :)

Photo credits go to my dear mother :) Thanks mom!

mystery weekend

So I'm a little behind on my blog posts.  But this is definitely blog-worthy even though it's quite late!
Back a few weeks ago, I was blessed with the opportunity to spend the weekend with 14 other girls from 4 different states in St. Louis, MO.

T & K and I had planned this as a mystery weekend over the past several months.  (Most credit goes to K & T for all the planning cause for some reason I had other things keeping me busy.)  We set up a mystery email account, sent out invites and mailed them from OH so it wouldn't be so suspicious as to who it was, and didn't inform the invitees where the destination was or who the fellow travelers were until closer to departure, and even then, they only knew who they would be traveling with.  However...most of the girls had asked around and pretty much had it figured out who all was going to be there and I think most had an idea of the planners as well!  So even though the mystery was pretty much figured out, there were still a few surprises for some. :)  I think I can say that it was a wonderful weekend had by all.  So thankful for all the amazing opportunities I've had to travel and meet other sister's in Christ from all over the U.S.  We are soo blessed!

Our sweet house for the weekend!  It was way back in the woods, away from the city, yet close enough for activities, and it had 5 bedrooms with almost all king beds!  We coulda packed a bunch of other girls in!

Fri nite after supper, chilling on the screened in porch.  It wasn't until almost 9, that we had the spontaneous idea to go to the City museum that night!  It was a late one but we had a blast!

Sat morning breakfast cookers...thanks ladies, you did a wonderful job!

Special times singing together and taking in the suns warmth :)

U-turn #11 & 12 accomplished with only a few more dozen ahead of us! ;) 

Ready for the scavenger hunt we made...group #1...and the winners

Group #2

Group #3 :)

Lunch after the scavenger hunt.  Then we headed back to the house to get ready for a supper and singing at St. Louis church.  

Frozen yogurt stop after the singing...with another driving adventure to follow :)
Hmm...I wonder why these orange cones are here...I guess we just go through them!
What's that chirping sound?!

Sunday morning picture before church.  There were a bunch of other visitors there that weekend including us.  I think we tripled St. Louis church!  

The group

Going up the arch!

At the top!

Yellow light + wet roads + fender bender = smoking car left along the interstate in the middle of the slums.
Praise the Lord for His protection!  

Sending off a few of the ladies Sunday night...in gimp car #2

Thank you mom and dad for making the long trip to St. Louis to bring my car back.  Sorry for keeping you up all night :-/

It always amazes me how we can plan a weekend with a bunch of random girls who we don't know all that well, yet know that we all have something very special in common, and it almost always ends up with amazing results.  This was one of those weekends.

So many precious memories.  I'm very thankful I had a last little fling before I join the "lame married couples" group! ;) (just kidding...looking forward to many more precious memories as a married person!)

Thank you each one for coming along and making the trip extra special.  :)