New Hair-Do and Pumpkin DAY!

Good bye long, boring, pain in my rear, yucky hair!! =) Ok it's been a couple weeks but I JUST LOVE IT. =)

Before...

Adding a little highlight... love love love.

And wa la... MMMM.... hello yummy, cute, short, EASY, stylish and flattering hair!! Thank you Angela Iwanowycz, I love you! =)

Woohoo!! I hated when my long hair got "stuck" everywhere... under my purse strap, under my back when I'm sleeping... etc. NOT to mention, it was a PAIN to wash and to brush and dry... etc. yuck yuck... DEFINITELY time for a change! I don't know how you long haired peeps do it... kudos to you!

Anywho... moving on... to fun PUMPKIN PATCH DAY!!
Here is the crew. My dear Accountability Group girlies, and their wonderful husbands! Ryan & Julie Riley, Aaron & I, Jake, Sarah & Calvin Eschbach, Chris & Sarah Funkhouser.

We all headed out the infamous Stoney Ridge Farm in Everson, Wa. It was ABSOLUTELY packed the day we went... one of the last beautiful sunny days left I suppose!

I made him do this... =)

Then we got all the boys to do it... funny funny!

There were SO MANY pumpkins!!

The boys got a wheel barrow so they didn't have to carry ALL the pumpkins.

Sarah with 2 month old Calvin, Julie due TODAY with Katelyn Sage, Me, and Sarah due end of April! All of our firsts. Such a blessing to walk through this stage of life with amazing friends and women of Christ!

We headed back to Ryan & Julie's house and had lots of yummy food! Chili, cornbread, chips & bean dip, apples & carmel, deviled eggs, apple cider, and pumpkin pie! Yum YUM! After a few good hours of sticking our hands in gross goo, and carving our little hearts out...
We came up with some pretty cool jack-o-lanterns!!

Here are Aaron & I's. Pretty easy to pick out of the crowd. Tigger and our very own Eli dog. (picture doesn't do it justice) =) Good job by Aaron!!

Everyone's finished pumpkins! So fun!

Even baby Calvin had a pumpkin =)

It was such a fun day! Thankful for you guys!

Lake Tahoe

So it's been a while now, but over a month ago I was able to travel down to Lake Tahoe. I'd never been there before and was very excited. My Best Friend and Ya-Ya Sister from High School, Valerie Martin was to be married there! She currently lives in Nevada and met her man there. It was a great drive down, having carpooled most of the way with my other Ya-Ya, Bailey Weekes, and also meeting up with another great childhood friend, Talia McKay in Eugene, Oregon. I was excited to hang out with some old friends, get a good road trip in, and see the great "Lake Tahoe" that I've heard so much about!

Val was in a great mood, not stressed and just the same silly, fun girl I remember. She never fails to get me to crack up laughing. I love her dearly. It was so much fun anticipating her big day with her, and I'll never forget a phone call we shared just a week or two before the wedding. Having been married for two years now, it was really fun to start talking to her about married life and hearing how excited she was for the future. She wasn't shy about talking about kids and the fact that they could be living on the other side of the country some day. She was just so excited to be married, go wherever her husband went, and I was so excited for her!

So the first night the bridal party celebrated her bachelorette party. The best part was the dueling piano bar singing a "special" song for her. =) This is me and the bride.

The next day we had the rehearsal dinner, and this is the beautiful view! It's truly an amazing place, worthy of all the great reviews! Val had gotten us matching blue "Lake Tahoe" T-shirts, and the whole bridal party had received cowboy hats during the bachelorette party. We looked pretty cute! (Except I lost my cowboy hat before leaving. =( sad!)

And the big day has arrived!! =) Talia on the left, Bailey in the middle, and me. It was so much fun to hang out with these girls. We have been friends since before I can remember! Good ol' LaCrosse Tigercats!

My dearest Bailey Sue. I just love her! I remember holding hands in Pre-School! I know our friendship is forever, and I'm so thankful for her. I love this picture of us, she always has the cutest smile!
This isn't the greatest quality, I'm so mad! But it's the best one I got of my dress, and of me with the beautiful Bride! She looked amazing. It turned out to be the most beautiful day, and a great evening for the reception. The wedding was right on the beach and the bridesmaids got away with bare feet! I loved it.
The Happy Couple right after the ceremony. Introducing Grayson and Valerie Taylor. Congrats you two!!

California Graduation

What a fun weekend it was! Landed in Burbank, CA on Wednesday evening and we were picked up by the lovely Molly Pearce. We had a relaxing night hanging out at the Pearce's and watching LA Galaxy soccer. Thursday we got to sleep in a little. Then headed to Master's to pick up my grad gown and say a few hellos. It was so much fun to see friends and be back on campus. Sweet Naomi allowed us to borrow her car for the rest of the weekend! What a blessing she is. Thanks Nay!!

I got to see my basketball girls which was so fun! Erica, Lauren, Brooke, and Annie - who I found out is moving to Idaho after she gets married this summer! Wahoo! (closer to me!) I also got to graduate with Jenna Reed! She's moving up here! Only a few minutes away! YAAAAYYYYY!!!! Also got to see my coaches, Dan and Johnny.

After a few hours on campus, we headed down to L.A. with Wil Pearce and Janie Roy to a concert. Aaron's old college roommate, David Zimmer was playing with Angel Taylor. It was really very fun actually. They were my favorite. The second band = not so good. The final band was Green River Ordinance, I'd never heard of them, but they were good! My high light was that David Cook was there! SWEET!







Brett Zamroz flew in that same night so we met up with him and Molly at In & Out at 1:00 am in Santa Clarita. It ended up being a late night, but heck - when else do we get to stay up till 3 am with old friends!? Ha ha! We were pooped!

Friday I had to get up early to get to Graduation practice! It was pretty fun, just anticipating the ceremony. After practice we got to visit with Robert, Brigitte and Jewel Short. That was probably one of my favorite events of the weekend! Jewel is adorable. Brigitte seemed to easily fit the role of "Mom" and Robert was a very proud dad. They are so happy! God has blessed us with their friendship. We love you Shorts!

Then we were off to one of my favorite restaurants: Stone Fire! We were so excited to meet up with our friends, Kevin and Lisa Derr, who are going to have their baby any day! Little Ellie is soon to make her appearance! It was so fun to catch up with them and see Lisa's big baby belly!

After that, home to take a nap! Then up and getting ready for Graduation. Graduation was such a great experience. Praise the Lord for allowing me complete my education at the best college ever =) What a place... It will always be near and dear to my heart because of how God used it to transform my life! It was bittersweet, knowing it was the final piece to my years at Master's... and yet feeling the accomplishment of something many people thought I wouldn't do! God is so good! It was one of my most challenging years... but the Lord brought me through! Thank you Jesus! Friends and pictures and parties followed. Seeing the Kane and Maly families were definitely a highlight... Aaron and I will never forget how they ministered to us!

My parents weren't able to make it down for graduation. But my momma surprised me with my beautiful lei!! It was big and smelled fantastic! I couldn't wear it during the ceremony but I put it on right after for pictures. Purple is the best! Thanks mom for the special surprise! I love you!

God works in awesome ways... Through college, Aaron and I's best friends were Ryan Zamroz and Stacy Nanninga. They are now married and living in Australia (where Ryan plays professional basketball.) Their families became our families. This weekend we were staying with the Pearce's who became good friends when Aaron made the switch to Music in school. This past year, Ryan's brother Brett began dating Molly Pearce. God is so good! This brought our two best groups of friends together for graduation. Aaron and I got to spend my graduation weekend/party with our best friends and our best families. We were so excited that the Nanninga's came out to see us! It was the best taste of what we knew to be Master's. One piece, however, was missing... Ryan and Stacy. God had different plans for them at that moment... and we were so sad. God knew all along that Ryan and Stacy weren't going to be able to celebrate with Brett and I.... but because of that, He allowed Brett and I to graduate at the same time - to bring our families together - to have a little piece of Ryan and Stacy with us. It was another bittersweet experience. Praise the Lord for His perfect plans.
I miss you Ryan and Stacy! I am eagerly awaiting the day of our next meeting! I love you!

Aw now for some California SUN! Finally off to get a little Beach time! The Pearce family and the Zamroz family headed to Santa Monica to rent bikes for the afternoon. It's so relaxing and you can see a lot in a little amount of time! Aaron got sun burnt =) I however, use sunscreen! (I love you Aaron!) Anyway... it was super fun and my sister, Danielle, got to join us! I haven't seen her for a long time. She's as beautiful and tan as always. I hate her... just kidding. I envy her. Ha ha... just kidding again... sort of.

Saturday concluded with another relaxing evening at the Pearce's after we returned Naomi's car. We packed up for our early flight home and said our goodbye's. Heading back to REALITY! Aaron still has a job... and I still have school. In the words of Pooh, "Oh bother..."


Thanks Again Molly and the rest of the Pearce family for hosting us! We had such a great time. We are truly grateful! I love you Molly!