Is that tent for your dog?

Camping...oh camping. No TVs, no radios, no cell service, no 3G network to instagram and facebook, no people, no noise, peace + quiet. You + Nature.

HAHA!

Not exactly...We made our reservations really late because this trip was a little last minute, so we literally reserved the last camping site in the whole camp ground. Our night in the outdoors consisted of us sitting by our raging fire, on our camp site that had no trees or privacy, listening to our neighboor's generator, and laughing at comments of every punk kid that walked by our tent.

"Mommy, I hope they go to bed soon. But I don't know where they're going to sleep"
"Is that tent for your dog?"
"How many of you really fit in there? THREE?!"
"Did you have to bend your knees?"
"Mommy, are those girls poor?"

On the bright side, Ashley saved the day with her fire making skills, Alex made some great chicken for dinner (impressive!!), and we had giant marshmellows + wine coolors. Oh, and we fit into a 5x5 tent....So really, whats not to love!?

We made alot of memories and laughs and learned a few lessons for next time. 1. Reserve your camp site early. 2. Bring a bigger than 5x5 tent for 3 people & 4. Get some coals that don't take 2 hours to heat up!

 Lots and Lots of lighter fluid...

 mmm dinner

 s'mores s'mores s'mores!!

 laughing at our tent :)

 Mt. Rainier on the drive home

Homemade Blackberry Cobbler w/ hand picked berries when we got back. Had 2 peiece of that stuff!!

Silverwood Trip!

We visited Silverwood this weekend! SO fun! We left Olympia WAY early (5 in the morning!!), drove the 360 miles to to Couer De Lane, ID and landed at Silverwood Theme Park Saturday afternoon. It was a blast! If you're ever in the Northwest, you should for sure visit this place.

Group Pic!

We were in roller coast HEAVEN! They have a water park as well, so hit up that, too. Tremors was definitley my fav ride of the day.

source

Wait, I take that back. My favorite ride of the day had to be watching everyone get completely soaked on Thunder Canyon....for some reason its soooo hilarious to watch everyone get so wet while in their normal clothes! Tracy & Mark got the most wet every time and my stomach hurt from laughing so hard.

Another favorite of the day was all of the guys on Avalanche Mountain....Zach and Noah (the two biggest guys) decided to sit next to eachother, and I swear almost died from almost being propelled over the edge. Weight limited might have been exceeded, but it was hilarious to watch them come down.

Cell phones + water rides don't mix so i regrettably couldn't capture any of these moments.

Cheers to a weekend with 3 other aweome married couples. Love these peeps!

Miami Trip

Our trip to Miami was a blast! I met Julie and Karianne there and spent 6 days in the humid paradise of South Beach.  Just about every morning we woke up, drank Starbucks Via (surprisingly good!), and went to the beach. It was fantastic. Julie + Karianne are Norwegians, so they share the same level of desperation for some sun as I do. And let me tell you, we got some serious SUN! Felt amazing!! 

I learned from these 2 nice retirees on my plane ride home that Miami has 2 seasons; wet & dry.The dry is from Nov - April ish and the wet is April - Nov ish. So, somedays we were greeted by crazy lightening and thunder & other days rain & other days sun. It kept us on our toes.

On Monday we took a tour to Key West. It was a long bus ride (3.5 hours each way), but pretty cool to see all the keys.  There are 37 in all (I think!?) and the last one that we spent the day at (Keywest) is 90 miles for Cuba & the farthest point south in the US (I think!?).

The rainy drive to the Keys 

 Super cute neighborhoods

Overcast....beach still tannin'!

 Super yummy mexican food 

Ever wonder where Key Lime Pie came from? Key West!

This was our walk to the beach every morning.

 Coffee Bar @ Nespresso Boutique

 Beautiful Nespresso Machines

Espresso + Vanilla Ice Cream = Heaven!

All in All it was a fantastic vacation with some good friends, beautiful beaches, and great, hot weather. I am totally missing the relxation, sleeping in, & sunshine! I've learned that taking vacas to sunny spots is a MUST when you live in Western Washington. But, if there's one thing better than all of this, it is coming home to my baby after being away. Here's what was bursting out of my heart on the plane ride home...

Zach,

I used to like airplanes, airports, looking out at a new city, laying my head down on pillows of different hotels in different places all the time. I used to love vacationing in beautiful places with new sites to see, but all that has changed because half of me is always with you. And now adays my flight home is even more exciting than my flight away. And my favorite view will always be your face on our bed in our home in our city. There is nothing I love more than that.

Love, Aim.

 

4th of July Week

Short week of work, fabulous SUNNY/WARM 4th of July, & boardin' a plane tonight to Miami to see my best friend for the 1st time in 2 yrs! What a great week!
Everyone and their mom floods the blocked off streets on fourth of July eve in Olympia, so we did too! Peeps bring their campers to the parking lots nearby, play games and sports, wait 1 hr in line for starbucks, and then watch the free fireworks show! We just curbsided it and laughed at all the traffic cause our place is just a 1/2 mile down the road :)

no pics of the fireworks..but if you look really closley, they're there between Z & I :)

On the actual 4th of July we spent the day with some great friends at the lake. The sun was shinin' here in Olympia and we soaked it up! That was followed by some fantastic ribs, burgers, cheesecake, etc with friends, chillin' in the backyard....in a realy nice lawn chair too! I am determined to go buy two of for our back porch now :)

See ya'll in a week! I'll be beachin it up with my Norwegian friends by tomorrow! I'll drink a margarita for ya'll and tell you about it when I'm back. Happy weekend!

Girl's Getaway - Ocean Shores

This weekend I took off with 5 other awesome girls to our church's women's retreat, otherwise known as the girl's getaway.  It was SO much fun! In the past I saw it as more of an older woman's event, but they have really done a lot to cater to all ages!


Our church is blessed with amazing worship leaders, so of course the worship was fantastic. The speakers were REALLY good too. I enjoyed them alot. It was mother daughter duo from Nashville, TN. No, they didn't have accents because they are originally from CA, holla at some fellow native Californians!, but they were powerful, annointed, and super hilarious. 


To me, the people you go with/room with make it or break it. Thankfully I stayed with the best girls! Lots of laughs and fun and memories :)

As the retreat came to a close yesterday afternoon we were given some time to go around our tables and express what God had spoken to us/what He had done in us that weekend. I loved hearing from each of my friends of the things that God was doing in their hearts.  All the way home I just reveled in how truley blessed I am to be surrounded by these women that challenge me to be the woman God created me to be by just being themselves and being honest, transparent, and real.

It's good to feel refreshed, renewed, rejuvenated, and refocused!