Harstine Island

Lane's parents rented a house over on Harstine Island (near Shelton/Seattle) for a weekend. Erin was in town for a couple weeks before, and Russell met us there for some fun! We were a little nervous for the togetherness of this family trip because everyone has their own input on everything--but it turned out great! The house was adorable, the surroundings were beautiful, and we had a lot of fun!!

 There were thousands of sand dollars and other cool shells on the beach right by the house so we went on lots of walks on the barnacle-covered beach each day to collect them.

Our game we love to play is Settlers of Catan, and we were excited for Russell to come so we could play with him because he introduced it to us; but he introduced another game to us--Ticket to Ride, which is now next on our list to buy! Even Faith picked up on it...lil' miss smarty pants!

 There were deer always walking around and this mama deer came to our front yard and after about 30 minutes of restraining the kids (trying to keep still and quiet), Lane got the deer to eat right out of their hands. The kids loved it!

 Harstine Island is right on the Puget Sound. Blake, Lane, Russell, Tobie, and Faith all made it a deal to jump into the cold water at night and then go sit in the hot tub on our deck.

So our weekend consisted of playing games, eating, collecting shells, feeding deer, hot-tubbing, going to a silly kiddy carnival, relaxing, and spending a lot of time swimming in the community pool. It was an awesome weekend. Thanks Tim & Vicki!

Beach Shrine

My mother-in-law found me this cute baker's rack at a garage sale. I decided to turn it into one of my beach shrines with the adorable shell dishes she bought me as well. It's a work in progress, and it's not very baby-proof so when we have baby guests I'll have to block it off, but I love it!

One of my bathrooms is also a beach shrine. Someday when we can afford to redo our bathroom and get me a huge jacuzzi tub, my beach bathroom shrine will be glorious and complete. 

Misc.

We finished our fireplace! It looks a-m-a-z-i-n-g. I updated our house blog so there's more stuff on there.

Side note: I made the Dean's List for the third time, and I got straight A's for the second quarter in a row...kind of a big deal for me! :)

Gatorade

I think we should have a Gatorade party...just sayin'.

They were 50cents a piece two different times so we have about 100 of them.

July 2011

July apparently wasn't very picture-worthy this year. For me, it has mainly consisted of school and feeling homesick. We were able to see some friends from Rexburg --Tyler and Kelly Hesselgesser came up for a weekend. She had a triathlon in Chelan, so we were able to go to dinner and play some Wii. That may not sound very exciting, but trust me, Wii Party is pretty stinkin' fun!

Last week I was able to go to Spokane and see one of my old roommates, Michelle. She was visiting home for a family reunion and celebrated her 2yr old's birthday. I hadn't seen her since the little guy was born, and now she has two!! So that was fun to see her and her little family.

We also started our Jack & Jill Softball league. Our team is "Blaydes" which is Blake's company. We had these awesome shirts last year, and now we have more friends on the team! It's pretty fun. Softball is totally not my sport, but I think that I've improved (I've been hitting pretty well at least). Last year all I played was right field (because it rarely gets hit out there) and I'm scared of the ball. I'm moving on up in the softball world though because I'm now trying 2nd base as well! We have a lot of people on our team so we rotate positions and sitting out, so luckily all my errors will only affect every other inning, haha. Here's some of the people on our team; I can't photograph myself or ones who bat before/after me, so I'll post the other part of the team later!

Summer quarter ends this week! I am SO in need of a break. Going to school year-round wears you out, I can tell you that much. We're so close though! I have Pre-Autumn Experience (2 weeks long) at the end of August, Fall quarter, Winter Quarter, and then Student Teaching in the spring...and then I graduate! It's so close, yet so far. I am proud of myself for sticking with it because it hasn't been an easy ride. I have had many moments where it would have been much easier to quit!

Ps. This will be our new roommate starting in August! This is Amanda. She is in my cohort and we've become pretty good friends. She'll be renting downstairs for a while!

And she is moving.... :'( This is Leah. She is married to Brady Harker (Dusty's brother) and they have a son named Leo (who is in a lot of our pictures). She has also become one of my best friends. Brady accepted an awesome job in Washington D.C. Although they are moving across the country and I won't have my ally close anymore, I am so happy for them to start a new chapter! Plus, we now have an excuse to go visit the East Coast!

And she is coming to visit! This is Erin. She is Lane's sister (duh!). She is also pregnant! We're excited to see her!

And after all is said in done, I am going home home to visit my family in August! I am beyond thrilled and it is a trip well overdue. The end.

23

Well I finally feel like I'm at an acceptable age to be where I'm at in life...married, owning a home in a different state than my family, almost done with college. Ya, I'm still immature, but I feel like I'm kind of a grown-up now. And it was the first birthday that I honestly and truly kept forgetting about before it came!

...but I had a special day. I got a lot of cards, and shout outs on the good ol' Facebook! I had a little bbq with some family and friends and they spoiled me. These are some of my great friends. (Left-Right: Sunnie Wright and Amanda Van Diest *from school* and Leah Harker). Life just wouldn't be the same without them! ♥

Lane surprised me with this vanity. It's in the back corner of our walk-in closet. It's now my little escape for when I get ready for the day. I love it!

Thanks everyone for making me feel so loved starting out my 23rd year!

Piano Solos

Yesterday I played a solo in sacrament meeting at church. I didn't want to. I agreed to it a while ago because it had been about a year since I did a solo last (other than the primary presentations). I just wasn't feeling it this time and didn't feel like I had my piece together enough. I played "The Olive Tree," and I would have liked to have someone sing the words because it is just such a beautiful song, but I didn't ask anyone. I really didn't think I did too great but I got so many compliments. I'm not bragging, I am just humbled. It was a great experience. I guess I need to start finding more pieces to play because the feedback made me feel wonderful.

This is a video they show at EFY and on the BYU channel that has the words as well.

The Olive Tree

The first one I performed in this ward, last year, was a rendition of I Know That My Redeemer Lives which is my absolute favorite! I played it in my ward in high school and had a few of my friends sing it, but in this ward I just played the music. This video shows some of Jesus Christ's life and really just fills my heart with gratitude, love, humility, and hope. I am grateful for the life that I have, my talents, my family, the gospel, our jobs, our home, the chance to go to school, our freedom, all that I have been blessed with and the examples in my life.