4th of July Weekend

Two years ago, we spent an epic weekend at a friend's family's cabin for the 4th of July.

We played games, spent the majority of our time down at the lake, ate way too much food, and had a great time with some of our friends.

This year, we were able to do another cabin trip with our friends, at a different friend's family's cabin.

Our activities included:

Taking a couple of walks/hikes

While not all of us participated in every single activity, we all had a lot of fun. We were able to do some exploring in the area, as well as check out some really cool places a short drive away.

 A blurry part of our crew on a walk to watch the fireworks

The view from the back porch of the cabin

 One of the places some of our group explored on a hike

Watching the fireworks

The place we were in had a really great fireworks show. For being such a small town, I was really impressed with their fireworks show. It blew our local show out of the water. And the biggest bonus was that it was within walking distance of the cabin, and we were able to stake out our viewing spot much earlier in the day. So we had great seats for the show.

 S.W. and I waiting for the show to start

 Our whole group

Visiting a couple of breweries

We all went to the first one and a little over half our group went to the second one. The first one was really cool, as they had a lot of outdoor activities set up for people to participate in, including frisbee golf and corn hole. We packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed sampling some beer. I can't vouch for the second place, as I was not one of the ones that went there, but it sounded pretty fun from what I heard.

The first brewery

 Almost all of us at the brewery

Playing corn hole

Playing lots of games

We brought all of our favorite games and really enjoyed playing all of them. I love having friends that like playing games, as I grew up playing a lot of games with my family. And of course, we had to bring up some video games as well.

Good ol' Super Smash Bros

BBQing/firepit time

We BBQed dinner every night, as the cabin didn't have air conditioning and we didn't want to make the place too warm. It worked out perfectly as every night cooled down so nicely, and it felt really good to be eating dinner outside together. Each couple/person took responsibility of either a dinner, breakfast food, or lunch food, and then everyone brought snacks and drinks. We had so much stuff to begin with, but I was pleasantly surprised with how much we actually went through by the time the trip was over.

Making s'mores with graham crackers and sugar cones

We tried really hard to go spend some time at a nearby lake but every spot was super crowded on the fourth. Next time, we will have to be prepared to be ready much earlier in the day to make that happen.

Some other highlights from the trip included:

Getting coffee with S.W. While some of the others were off doing a hike, she and I took her cute little man downtown to do some walking around. Unfortunately, we forgot about the parade happening, so instead we got a coffee at a local little place and enjoyed our time together there before heading back to the cabin.

Spending time with that little man. Oh man...he is just so much fun. Happy babies that smile all the time just melt my heart. And this little one decided to start crawling this weekend! Just such a joy to be around.

Having an epic dance party with glow sticks. This happened randomly and was so fun. We had some glow sticks and stuff to have fun with for the fireworks, but we forgot to take them down with us. So instead, on the 4th of July, we had a dance party in the cabin.

This was pre-dancing

Getting to know our friends better. It's crazy how much more you find out about people when you spend that much time with them. We had so much fun together and I really can't wait until our next trip!

Love these girls!

Note: Photo credit for some of the pictures goes to my husband, as well as to S.W.

10 Years Ago

It's always funny the things that happen that trigger memories of days past.

With the 4th of July quickly approaching, I'm reminded of this period of time 10 years ago...and how very different my life was.

 During our first break up. We were still good friends

As I've written about before, Josh and I broke up twice when we were dating. Both of those break ups happened very early on in our relationship. The first one made a lot of sense to me, because we had only been together about a week and didn't know each other super well yet. The second one was a lot harder. We had been together solidly for a month and I was already starting to feel like he was the guy I was going to marry...which is part of the reason he broke up with me...he was a little freaked out by that. And it really is understandable. It was very early on and we didn't know each other super well. But sometimes you just know...

But this moment in time ten years ago, I was really hurting. Josh and I were still friends, but he was dating other people and I was talking to someone who I was sort of interested in. But it was hard for me to see what the future was going to hold. I was still attending my old church and helping out with the youth group there. I was planning to go away to school in six months to pursue a degree in Biblical studies with an emphasis on youth ministry. I thought I had everything planned out, but I still liked this boy who stole my heart. And I couldn't get him out of my head, no matter how hard I tried.

During our second time together

It's crazy to think of how hard that summer was for me, even though so much of it was filled with fun times with friends. And it's crazy to see how much things changed in a matter of months. By the end of September, that boy had a change of heart (with some nudges from God and other people in his life), and decided to give us another shot. We both knew this time would be different and it was. Shortly after that, I started attending his church (where we still go now) and I even got a job there working in their youth ministry. I didn't go away to school like I'd planned, but I know now that was for the best. I think if I would have gone, Josh and I probably would have broken up at some point, because neither one of us really wanted to do long distance.

Josh's 21st birthday. A few months after we got back together the last time

And not only would Josh and I probably not be married right now, I wouldn't have more than half of the people I have in my life now. It's crazy to think how meeting one person becomes a catalyst for a lot of other new friends and experiences. Or how a decision to apply for a job can change the whole course of your life, as it did mine.

1st: January 2006 / 2nd: June 2015

So today I'm just thankful for these past ten years and all they've brought. God's plans are always better than mine, and I'm so thankful my life path was different than the one I would have chosen for myself.

Twenty Fifteen Part 6

I can't believe we are already halfway through the year!

We started off the month of June by celebrating my brother-in-law's birthday with a family dinner. It was a fun evening.

Later that week, I went to the wine bar I went to for my birthday with a couple of friends. We had a really good night just catching up on life and enjoying yummy food and drink together.

The next week, K.W. and S.W. came over for dinner and we watched the Bachelorette and Pretty Little Liars together (well, at least the females of us watched those together. The boys hung out in another room). We had a fun night. S.W. and I spend a lot of time texting each other to theorize about Pretty Little Liars.

The next week, I had a wine night with my wine ladies. There weren't very many of us able to make it that evening, but we still had a great night with good conversations.

The next day, I celebrated my friend S.C.'s birthday with a fun group of ladies. Since it was too hot to do our original plan of s'mores around a bonfire, the birthday girl decided to do make your own sundaes instead. It was delicious!

The following day, we headed to our favorite place: Disneyland! We were able to spend our first day there with K.W. and S.W. and their sweet little man, as well as a couple of their friends (the little man didn't stay with us all day. S.W.'s aunt came to pick him up in the afternoon). It was so fun to be in the park with friends again.

We also got to enjoy a special treat that day: we got to eat lunch at Club 33! If you've never heard of it before, it's because it's a pretty secret, super hard to get into restaurant located in New Orleans Square in Disneyland. I can't say how we got in, but it was a big surprise for us, and we found out only a few days before we left that we were going to be going there.

Out on one of the balconies you see while walking through New Orleans Square

Mosaic on the floor just as you enter Club 33

The rest of the day was spent going on as many rides as we could and squeezing every last minute of our time together enjoying the parks. We also got to see the new fireworks show and it was incredible!

The next morning, Josh and I headed to the park for a couple of hours before going to a baby shower for S.W. Even though their cute little man has been out of the womb for awhile, her family was unable to do a shower for her earlier. I was so happy to be included in the festivities. S.W. and her little family got loved on in a big way. After the shower, we headed back to the park. We watched the fireworks again from a different spot and were able to see things we didn't get to see the night before.

At S.W.'s shower

And the following day, we spent a couple of hours in the parks before we headed home. It was a long, but super fun weekend, but it's always so nice to be back home.

A few days after we got home, we went to see Jurassic World. We both really enjoyed it! I thought it was really well done and was a great sequel to the first movie (the second and third are definitely not my favorites).

Later that week, I had another wine night with my wine ladies. We decided to have two this month since not everyone was able to make it on one date. We had a much bigger group this time and had a really wonderful evening catching up on life.

The next day, I was able to have a coffee date with L.B. and her girls. We always have the best conversations when we are together.

The following day, we went to see Inside Out. Such a cute movie (oh, and you may want to bring some tissues. It's a Pixar movie, so you know there's gonna be some moments that bring on the waterworks).

The next day, we celebrated my dad with lunch at my parents' house. My grandparents were also able to join us, which was really nice. We had a good day spending time together and watching a movie together.

Later that week, we went out to dinner with some friends and discussed plans for a fun trip happening in the near future.

The next day, Josh and I went to a fundraiser event for a board he is on for a local ministry. It was one of the hottest days we've had this year, and the event happened to be outside, but thankfully we were able to hang out in the shade.

The next afternoon, I had a coffee date with L.B. It was so nice to be able to spend that time with her.

The following day, K.M. and I went and helped a friend make centerpieces for her upcoming wedding. After that, we went out to dinner with some of our other friends and played games after. It was a really good night.

And we finished off the month with having K.W. and S.W. over with their little one for dinner and PLL.

Other things that happened this month:

I chatted with my BCBs about The Girl on the Train. Crazy book, but it was a good mystery! I read the whole thing in a day and my brain felt so fried afterward. We also read Looking for Alaska, which I enjoyed quite a bit. It was definitely a bit on the sad side, though.

Church has been really good lately and we had an awesome guest speaker in the middle of the month. My Bible study has also been going great. We are just over halfway done with our study of Gideon and it's brought up some great discussions in our group.

And that's a wrap!