The Last Few Months...

My computer is working again!! I have the best boyfriend in the whole world. He took my laptop apart and fixed it with his magic technology fixing skills. I am now backing up my files (after a slight panic that I would lose everything in my computer) and enjoying being able to do all the things that a smart phone and iPad cannot do. The last few months have flown by with a whirlwind of activities, everything from graduating and weddings to beach trips and working full time. Here is a glimpse at life lately for me...

Ivy Cutting with President Eaton, followed the next day with graduation at  Key Arena - 6/8/12

4 years and 2 degrees later, I am officially an SPU alum!

I spent my summer Fridays at FFMC helping out with "Mom & Me" story times. So fun to spend time with these little ones and their moms!

Wedding #1 Hannah & Nate's lovely wedding in Sandpoint, Idaho - 7/14/12

Luke and I had the opportunity to go to the Mariner's game and sit in the owner's booth with Mr. & Mrs. Davis! Mr. Davis threw out the first pitch to celebrate the Mariner's 35th anniversary.

No summer would be complete without a trip to the beach with these lovely ladies. So glad we were able to do this while I was home!

Wedding #2 this summer :) Esther's beautiful wedding in San Diego - 8/18/12

Love this girl!

Janelle and I got to practice our cake cutting and catching skills. We're going to see how many weddings we can cut the cake for :) I love that I get to have this girl as my roommate once again!

Last but not least, I came back from a vacation at home to a week of VBS- my first at FFMC. Such a fun week! Here are some of the highlights...

All in all, life is grand. I'm excited for this next season of life. Post-college with a great roomie, a wonderful man in my life, and not just one but two jobs I thoroughly enjoy. The best part is that it's all happening during my favorite time of year. Bring on the scarves, boots, and pumpkin spice lattes!

Bridal Shower #2

Bridesmaid dress for Esther's wedding!
(But in plum instead of this red color)

I think it's official- everyone and their brother is engaged and getting married in the next year! Every time I go on Facebook someone else has an updated relationship status! However, two of my closes friends are in this bunch of engaged people, and I am so happy for them. A few weeks ago we had a shower for Hannah and then this past weekend we celebrated Esther with a shower for her as well. This time we had a smaller group of people (I think this was because we inadvertently planned it for Mother's Day weekend) but we still had a great time. Friday night we purchased bridesmaid dresses for Esther's wedding as well and I can't wait to wear them! I told her that even if she picked a different dress I was considering buying this one for myself just to wear some other time anyways! All in all I am very excited for all my friends getting married. It certainly makes me wish I was part of the process too, but I also know that when the time comes for me it will still be just as special. Maybe even more special because it will be my turn :)

Bridal Shower #1

This weekend, my lovely (ex-) roommate came to visit and we honored her with a bridal lingerie shower for her upcoming wedding! It was a wonderful time to see friends, have fun, and eat lots of yummy food. We had a girls night Friday, including pedicures and attempted bridesmaid dress shopping (for my OTHER soon to be married roommate), Saturday was the shower, and then Sunday we did some shopping, more talking, and of course more eating. It was so fun and such a nice break from school. [I did NO homework this weekend! Mostly because I didn't have any, but it was so great!] The shower also gave me an opportunity to make something else I found on Pinterest- the best brownies I have ever had in my entire life. Seriously, so good. Brownies, Reese's, peanuts, marshmallows, chocolate chips, peanut butter, rice krispies...there is a reason they are called "crack brownies"! The leftovers are currently in my fridge and let's just say, they won't be around for long.

The wedding season has just begun, because in two weeks we will have another lingerie shower for Esther who is getting married in August. So much wedding stuff! I feel very honored to be a part of it all :)

Where has the summer gone?

How is July almost OVER?! Before I know it I will be back at school (for my last year- a topic I'm avoiding at all costs by the way.) The summer has been nothing and everything like I planned. It's been filled with spending time with my mom, going to the beach, tanning, Disneyland, trips up to Seattle & Portland, lots of reading, sleeping, baking, and more. This week is VBS at church and I am already pooped after one day. haha. 121 kids + "science" experiments + 100 degrees + old church with poor air conditioning = looooong day. For our experiment today we mixed sugar, yeast, and warm water in an empty water bottle and then put a balloon on the top so it would fill with the gasses. It was fun because the kids were thinking it wasn't going to work (we were learning about waiting on the Lord, hence, waiting for the reaction to occur), and then all of a sudden the balloon would inflate enough to stand up on its own and they would freak out. Tomorrow is a baking soda-vinegar solution with floating popcorn kernels, so we'll see how that works.

One little girl asked me if I was a professional scientist. I leaned over and told her that I was just pretending and asked if she thought I was doing a good job (she said yes, which was very nice of her). The little boy beside her informed both of us that he was a professional scientist. I asked him what kind of science he did and he said ALL science....gotta love working with kids!

Enough about that, this past weekend I was able to go to Portland to celebrate the marriage of one of my closest friends (and roommate from last year). She married her highschool sweetheart and the ceremony, reception, and day was just beautiful! I was able to go a few days early and help out with setting the church up and getting things ready for the reception and it was just so fun. I love everything about weddings and marriage (I'm such a girl). Lisa is so sweet and didn't want to make anyone feel bad about their suggestions so we had to pull the truth out of her to figure out if she really liked what we were doing haha. Two weeks ago her colors were green and white and she went to order flowers and decided that the orange and yellow flowers were pretty, so her colors now included orange and yellow :) It turned out just perfect because the color popped and really stood out against the green. I could go on and on about everything that happened, but I'll just post a few pictures instead.

Mr. & Mrs. Gary!

Cutting the Cake

Cutting the Cake for real. We're basically professionals now.

such lovely ladies and wonderful friends!

I am so blessed to have people in my life who are always there for me, and to have friends with families that include me in such special events. I felt like part of the family the entire time I was in Portland celebrating Lisa & Ray. Can't wait for more friends to get married! :)