My summer has been a crazy one. Between working 4-5 days a week for quite a while, having people living with us, (one for almost a month) preparing myself for that wedding I played in, playing in church almost every Sunday (yay!), trying not to alienate myself from the Kalispell society, hiking Glacier, Skyping with my preciouses... etc. Webster does not approve of that last phrase, but I like to live life on the edge. Anyway, on to bigger and better things, such as more pictures and less words.
Here's a few pictures from my trip East.
My little cutie pie eating the frosting off of a cupcake. And then my two cutie pies at The Farm in Walnut Creek! My seester is so gorgeous!
Spending time with grandma... I'm so glad I got to say goodbye. Since I'm so far away it doesn't really seem like they're gone, but every time they come to my mind I feel this terrible pit in my stomach. It almost seems I can't come to terms with it since I'm not there. My mind thinks they'll still be living right beside mom and dad's when I'm there, but they won't. Loved them so so much! They would come over for cake and ice cream for basically every single one of us kids' birthdays and while it WAS special at the time, it's so much more special now looking back on it. But also just wishing I would've taken advantage more often of having my grandparents so close by, and just simply alive. They truly were the best grandparents in the world.
Kierra and I eating pretzels at the foot of grandma's bed the day she died. We had such a special time with her.
Spending time with Heather before I had to leave for Montana the next morning. Excuse my puffy crying eyes. I was such a zombie on this trip from everything that had happened, but Heather just took it all in stride. She truly is my twin.
On a completely different note, I made ciabatta bread for the first time ever a few months ago... SO amazing. Daryl and I almost ate both loaves the night I made them, plus the rest of supper. haha
My amazing friend Debra came out to see me several months ago. We had an incredible time! Here she is making mini cheesecakes. I convinced her to go rock climbing since she wanted to go rappelling anyway. =D That is obviously me descending over the edge.
There's Debra man-handling those rocks on her second climb of the day!
Our instructor was actually eager to take pictures of us climbing, which we didn't mind! Not to brag or anything, but he thought I had a knack for scurrying up those rocks. Ok yea I'm bragging. This section was particularly difficult... note the teeny leetle ledge my feet are on on that first picture.
Made it to the top! Debra and I were each other's belayers, which was fun to learn.
We had a little extra time so I did another climb, which was probably the most complicated but fulfilling one!
We of course had to have an evening of getting all dressed up and going out to eat. Debra is so fabulous at doing braids. Really going for that viking vibe. ;)
My tulips were beautiful this spring! I realize that was a sudden burst into a different topic, but oh well.
I re-did my front bed, which desperately needed it. There's actually a petunia basket-type thing now in that bare spot you see.
We went to Ross Creek Cedars one weekend when we were at his parents' place. Disclaimer for Daryl: I told him to pose like that because I wanted to laugh.
Aaaand went boating on his cousins' boat!
Chuckling about something... maybe the fact that a storm was coming and we were getting cold. On second thought that's probably not it.
A picture of the beautiful wedding I played in! Everything went really well minus the crazy strong wind chucking my folder onto my keys while I was playing prelude music. haha. Nothing like a nice "asdfoipwekb" in the middle of soft piano music. Hopefully those letters will give you a picture of what it sounded like.
A beautiful 13.5 mile hike we did in Glacier one Sunday afternoon with Daryl's sisters and his cousin that was staying with us.
Pictures TRULY can't do this justice. I know I probably say that every time, but it's true! The scale and everything is just so off in pictures.
Daryl and I =)
The wind was CRAZY up there. I almost fell backwards several times and once actually halfway teetered over, catching myself on a rock. haha
Daryl's cousin from Kentucky that he convinced to stay for 3 weeks so he could build pole barns with them.
On our way back down! Needless to say we more or less ran the whole way down so that we could get home in time cause some of us had to get up early for work. There is nothing that makes me feel more graceful than running down a very steep, rocky mountain trail while trying to put the breaks on so that your body doesn't outrun your feet, resulting in a very uncomfortable situation. As I'm running a picture of a clumsy rhinoceros usually comes to mind for some reason.
In other news, Daryl and I along with our best friends Heather and Jon are going to Ireland at the end of September! To say I'm crazy excited would be the understatement of the century.
It's something Heather and I have waned to do since we were probably 15, but just never thought it would actually happen! However, desperation and insanely cheap tickets helped us convince our husbands that it's a fabulous idea.
Love and miss you all!
