one year ago...yesterday

yesterday was the one year anniversary of wearing the bubblegum-princess-pink dress. aka, my big sister's wedding. a lot has happened in that year. looking back on it, i can't help but smile...and laugh a little. congrats to eric & jen for one year down. here's to a million more. cheers!

sisters...

the four...

and of course...my toast. i'd been trying to come up with something interesting to do for my toast for months! and yet the wedding came, and i had nothing. so...on the way to the reception, eminem's 'lose yourself' came on the radio, and inspiration came. i rapped the toast to the beat of lose yourself. i'm not going to lie. it was pretty amazing. :)

surprise!

over fourth of july weekend, i flew up to seattle to surprise my mama for her birthday. i got a surprise of my own when my old roommate from george fox called and said she would be in town too. hanging with family and friends, staying up late talking and laughing, and having coffees and donuts kept me crazy busy, but i loved every single second. thanks everyone back in the northwest for making a quick trip so meaningful!

the beach...

last month, i also took a little retreat to the beach...a great time for lots of quiet and stillness. i definitely think the beach is one of god's very best ideas. easily.

replanting...

last month we spent three weeks working on a friend's yard...kind of reclaiming it from the aftermath of the storm. we took out crazy amounts of debris, built a deck, painted, tilled the ground, created plant beds, planted grass, and did a lot of sweating. the yard went from this...

to this...

quite the transformation...