Getting Away

We don't have much to get away from. My days are full of crafts, exercise, friends and hangin with my mom. But Michael, on the other hand, works all day long and a weekend getaway was his idea. Mostly he was just anxious to check out what Oregon has to offer, and I was excited to show him. I have my favorite places to camp, but they are all so far away for just a weekend trip, so we read over this summer adventure magazine many times, asked our friends, and finally chose a place. Brice Creek east of Cottage Grove. IT. WAS. BEAUTIFUL. We got very lucky with beautiful weather and we had a fabulous time! Hiking, swimming (if your name is Michael and you're crazy), playing games, cooking, and sitting by the fire. We can't wait to go back. We feel like we found a real treasure when we hiked up to the waterfall. It was awesome!

Project: Brainwash Michael to love the Northwest... Complete success so far. :) And I barely have to do anything. It's just happening naturally! Here's a little video of our fun weekend...

Good Weekend

Lots of laughs. Lots of love. And sunshine! Great day today. We went to the rose gardens, played scrabble, ate delicious foods, and sat out-- all of dad's favorite activities. I love my dad so much. He thinks he deserves more than one father's day a year... he's probably right.

Whitney is so awesome to let me come butt into her life for the summer and try to command her schedule. I just love getting the chance to spend time together again and it's been so fun! Game night on Saturday with her and my parents was QUALITY. All of us were laughing harder than we have in a long time.

I want to keep everyone updated on our ever so anticipated Oregon summer, so I post my pictures on my blog and on Facebook. Is it too much? Help me out. I just figured that some people dont have Facebook, so I should do both?? Your opinions please :)

Is it weird that being in the place I love makes me love the man I love -- even more? Bless you for making this summer possible, Michael... bless you. Ok I'll stop with the mushy.

A Few of my Favorite Things... These days...

Finally, I'm blogging. It's taken a while to share everything I've wanted to share with you all because life has been too fun and too busy lately. Both of those things are good things in my mind when the busy is the fun. We're here in Oregon, staying at my parents for the summer and it's truly everything I hoped it would be. We were eating dinner outside the other night and I just had to say out loud how happy I am. I love spending my time doing things that matter, like visiting family and working on projects with my mom and spending time with friends. I love exercising everyday whenever the heck I feel like it. I love seeing Michael so happy to be putting his education to use. I love Oregon. And I'm mostly so grateful that we've been blessed with this opportunity. Let me share with you some of my favorite things as of lately...

• My Mom retired! You heard me, the greatest daycare ever is closed for business. It was a bitter-sweet day as you can imagine. But we are so grateful to my mom for all of her hard work. We decorated for the occasion and she got some awesome gifts! This is her opening her new camera from dad! Spending time with mom and dad on a daily basis is as wonderful as I remember and it's been so fun!

• My dear friend, Aliya, had her second baby girl :) Her name is Veda Brielle Basom. SHE. IS. PRECIOUS! I'm sad that I didn't get a better picture of her pretty face, but there will be more to come. I'm SO happy that I get to be here to get to know her girls better and catch up with her FINALLY!

• I'm spending as much time as possible with my Whitty Bear. So far I don't have any pictures of us this summer (Whit, we've got to fix that!). I have long been waiting for the day where I get to talk to her on a daily basis and see her multiple times a week again. That day has come! It's fabulous! Just like it's always been. I'm pretty certain this is one of my favorite things about this summer.

• Time with the Mitchells! This particular picture is at our girl's day celebration for LeAnn's birthday. Home is just not home without the Mitchells and I'm loving all the game nights and sittin' outs!

• Visiting family!! So far I've been able to see Tina and her family as well as most recently, Marc and his family. And there is lots more family visiting to come. We went up to watch Marc's football team scrimmage and it was so fun! I LOVE THESE BOYS! They are HILARIOUS! And I never tire of watching Marc coach, it's seriously tender. And Connie looks fantastic in her 8th month of pregnancy!

• Teaching aerobics at the church twice a week. This has turned out to be SO FUN! I totally adore everyone who comes and I have so much fun doing it. I'll try to get some pics of that crew :)
• Hearing all about Michael's internship everyday. You should see him when he gets home. He's like a kid on Christmas. So giddy and just soaking up every minute he gets in that office. I am so proud of him and just so so insanely grateful that he loves what he does.
• THE BEAUTY OF OREGON and seeing it everywhere I go, most especially when out jogging.

I could go on forever, but I'll save some for future posts. Basically, summer rocks.

P.S-- I came across some fabulous old pictures the other day, so prepare for an awesome post that some of you will be pictured in :)