Last day.

Today was my last day with these little monkeys. It has been delightful watching these two grow and learn over the past year, but unfortunately it's time for preschool! As I snuggled them down for their nap before leaving today, I said good bye and thanked them for teaching me so much. They fell asleep to me sniffling and laughing at myself. I know I'll see their sweet faces sooner than I think, but I'll definitely miss the day to day adventure of being their nanny. 

Love you girls!

When Venus passed over the sun, we were...

...laying on the beach peering through "solar safe screens" that my nerdy husband ordered for us. I wasn't as interested in it as Matt was (the man got off work early for this, people), but I did appreciate seeing it. You can't tell from the picture I included, but Venus looked like a tiny, poppyseed-sized dot on the sun. It made me feel very, very small. It was very sobering to be sitting on a blanket, munching chips, sipping Starbucks and watching a planet the size of ours drift over the sun like a dirt speck in a pool. 

After, we went to Red Robin for gluten-free burgers and milkshakes in honor of my dad's birthday! 

Happy birthday Dad! 

Speaking of June birthdays, I turn 24 on Saturday! I remember thinking I'd have multiple kids and wear strictly sweater sets and Gap jeans by now. Funny...

Pancakes

                                             

We had a really full, fun weekend. It's been a busy month with lots of visitors, so on Friday night we got to wind down from the week on a sushi date (yes, I still order Shirley Temples...), watch a movie together and shamelessly go to bed before 10.

Saturday our friends hosted a pancake breakfast to meet and hang out with their neighbors, so we went over there and joined in on the feast. It was fun to meet new people and serve breakfast alongside our community, but I'll admit that a personal highlight for me was the cinnamon & brown sugar pear compote that Louri made to drizzle over pancakes. I said goodbye to my social skills for a while and enjoyed three fluffy, gluten pancakes (a special treat away from Matt's diet) smothered in buttery sauce and sweet pears. If Matt and I had a driveway, or any extra space at all, we'd do the same thing (just to get the pear compote, obviously...)

Mrs. Partin

Happy birthday Chelsea! 

This picture was taken in January when Chelsea & her husband visited us on their way to move to Texas. I wish you could see her beautiful, blue eyes! They're incredible. 

Happy birthday sweet friend. I hope you feel celebrated and loved today. Believe it or not, I like our long distance relationship! Our phone dates are priceless. Thank you for staying in my life no matter where we end up. David: spoil your wife today! 

Memorial Weekend

 My beloved Brittney came to visit this weekend! We've had a lot of visitors this month (Oregonians need a bit of sun this time of year) but Britt was our last one. We have been counting down the days until we got to see each other for months and then of course, when she finally gets here, the weekend flew by. Britt is one of my best, sweetest, most thoughtful and loyal friends. The fours years I spent in Eugene, Oregon are filled with memories of us together. She is one of my favorite human beings. That girl has style, class and a seriously adorable laugh!

We spent our weekend enjoying delicious food, the warm sunshine and sweet wine. It was NOT enough time, but it will hold me over until the next time I get to see her. 

Another weekend highlight was celebrating this beautiful lady's birthday! Happy birthday to my lovely friend Bean!

Three-day weekends are the best. It was very sad to take Brittney to the airport and watch her leave, I can't wait for her to come back! 

P.S. If you didn't catch our wedding video on greenweddingshoes.com, it's being featured on oncewed.com today! We're so excited for Caravan as they continue to get noticed for how ridiculously talented they are!

Family in Texas

This is Matt & me on the night of our rehearsal dinner, smack dab in the middle of one of the most wonderful (and photogenic, by the way) families we know. Jenn & Justin are two of Matt's best friends that I had the extreme privilege of marrying into. Justin married us after his two darling daughters sauntered down the aisle as flower girls. We consider them family and are miserably missing out on those beautiful girls growing up!

I think it's time to plan another visit to Austin, we miss you guys!

Camping

After a long a week, we threw together a last minute camping trip with Bethany. We grabbed a cooler full of snacks & drinks and our tent and headed for the beach. As I mentioned before, I've never camped on the beach and usually prefer sleeping under the stars near a quiet lake nestled in the woods. The site was off the Pacific Coast Highway (Oregonians: the PCH is the winding road outlining the ocean that you see on all the car commercials) right on the beach. It was the perfect weekend. We spent most of our time watching the ocean, listening to the waves and spectating on the birds hunting for fish. Hot dogs, plaid flannels, marshmallows and card games made it the perfect summer night. It was hard to pull myself away from the sand and head home today. We ended our trip well, drinking coffee (coffee made over the fire that Bethany and I started by ourselves while Matt was sleeping, by the way) and watching the dolphins ride the waves near shore. I'm officially a fan of beach camping.

We found the perfect time to open the wine Kat & Luke thoughtfully picked out and gave to us! Enjoying some delicious PCH wine while playing cards in our tent. 

Toasted coconut marshmallows in my coffee? Yes.

A weekend highlight for me was discovering that I married a marshmallow connoisseur. Since I have a pretty serious addiction to s'mores and a long history of camp counseling, I greatly value a perfectly golden 'mallow.

Let's go back!