Number 2

Blogland, meet nephew #2! He is the sweetest little boy. Favorite pastimes include snuggling, drooling, and seeing how far back he can push his fist into his mouth.

heading east

On Friday some friends from church and I headed out to Cle Elum for some good old-fashioned roughing it!

I mostly went off exploring by myself for the afternoon, which is what I like to do most anyway.

Of course we had a campfire Friday night, full of sleepy sillies.

On Saturday morning, Nikita and I woke at 7 AM to freaking Paul Bunyan chopping wood RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR TENT. Some people's kids...

But then we headed out to the lake so he was sort of forgiven.

Again, more solo exploring instead of swimming for me. Followed by total exhaustion at about 3 PM. But it was a wonderful chance to enjoy the summer and the outdoors!

Another good one for the books

As I've said before, I love the fourth of July.

 Someone decided to light the seizure-inducing strobe light firework when I was trying to do a roman candle.

Josh had a hand-launcher for some of the fireworks. Which was terrifying. 

TERRIFYINGLY AWESOME. 

No, just kidding, it was genuinely terrifying. Especially the one that didn't get put in all the way, flew around the yard, and singed off Travis's leg hair. Totally safe, right?!

I'll stick to sparklers, thank you.

Josh's brothers enjoyed trying to smoke us out with smoke bombs (who needs lungs, anyway?)

Josh enjoyed "accidentally" lighting them upside down so they enveloped us in sparks and color.

...This just keeps sounding worse and worse, doesn't it? But it was a good time.

Hope yours was lovely and not as scary!

My favorite fourth

(so far)

Fresh out of high school. With my three beautiful best friends before distance made things hard.

 Boating and melted cupcakes and road tripping. 

Major sunburns all around. 

Inside jokes we still say, even though we have no idea where they started.

 And would you look at those baby faces we all had?

I CANNOT believe this was two years ago.

Hope you have as lovely of a fourth as this one was.

May God bless America.

mr. pinterest's birthday

Joseph had his birthday last week. Now, I've only known him a month or so (he's more my sister's friend), but I think it's safe to say we're friends now. We like mostly all the same things. It's a shame he's a stone's man and I'm a beatles girl, otherwise we could have hit it off. Darn it.

Joe is a a professional pinner. Yes, that is a real thing! As in, he's one of the most followed people on pinterest and he gets paid to curate boards for companies. Pretty dang cool, right? You can follow him here.

We had cupcakes and listened to his new records (did I mention he's a hipster?), and then we headed out to do the only thing there is to do in Puyallup.

This picture is terrible, but it's the only proof I have that I bowled a strike!

Joseph, may you live many more years for me to tease you.

called to serve!

Last week my friend Camille opened her mission call. Phoenix, AZ is getting one foxy sister missionary!

EMOTIONS

I even made gluten free cupcakes for the occasion. I've got to be honest, I just bought the gluten free cake mix because otherwise that would have been a disaster. They were still good, though! Betty does it again, folks.

Anyway, I'm so happy for and proud of this beautiful girl! She is such a sweet girl with a big heart. And she's so strong. Stronger than she thinks. She always has awesome shoes and she'll go see movies with you on a monday night. Congratulations, Camille! You da best.

under those lights

As I've said before, I'm a bagel fanatic. This place is the best, and it's right outside safeco.

We scored Felix bobble heads and free tacos. Camille and I went on an adventure around the stadium once we discovered it didn't connect all the way around. The sound was looking quite ravishing. Sometimes you just have to sing and dance to all the walk up songs and embarrass everyone you're with.We had a parking adventure. 

We lost.

this kid.

it's hot in my house and I went to the singles' ward today...

but at least my nephew is cute.

somebody told me it's all happening at the zoo.

one last roommate shenanigan!

now karoline is a married big girl and melanie's off to france! but hey, I got to see the elephants!