blackberries.

after a sunday evening family dinner [picnic style] at the in-laws, we all decided we wanted some free fruit.
[add this to the list as to why oregon is awesome: free blackberries almost anywhere and anytime you'd like. one time, i even picked a few from a bush in the parking lot at work.]

[the thorns on these things are VICIOUS!] 

my best friend's wedding.

noo, not the chick flick. 

i am fortune enough to have a handful of best friends.
this past weekend, one of them got married! [eeek!]

it was a hot august saturday. that also happened to have some thunder and lightening.
but liana was calm as can be! made life as a bridesmaid easy-peasy.

coolest part of the wedding? besides the father daughter dance that you can view here, was that after they both said "i do" thunder boomed. and even though it did rain, it didn't rain during the ceremony or the reception. just before and in between. talk about luck!

 

                                 

and i ended the night eating my third cupcake. alone. don't care! couldn't resist. 

friends thought it was funny, so i had quite the paparazzi capturing my love for sweets. 

congratulations mr. and mrs. wood! 

i'm so thankful i could be a part of your gorgeous, special day. 

love you both! 

pen pals.

meet hunter.

a 10 year old competitive and sports loving boy who, last halloween, wanted to send all of his halloween candy to someone serving in the military. [i know- i was impressed, too!]
luckily enough, hunter's mom knew someone that is very involved with a program called "operation santa". that someone was connie, who often sent packages to charlie throughout both of his deployments [bless her heart! so sweet.]
sooo, connie then of course suggested that hunter send his candy to charlie!
another bonus? hunter only lives less than an hour from where charlie is from [and basically where we now live] so it was nice of him to want to send packages to a local marine.
the two of them wrote just a couple times within those months of c's last deployment. [thanks to the snaaaail mail!] but it meant a lot to both of them.

since we have finally settled down into a somewhat normal routine here in oregon, we decided to take the quick trip to visit hunter and his family and meet them in real life. [facebook connected us a few months back.]
and ohhhh boy! was hunter excited to meet his marine pen pal!
i could just see in his eyes how much he looks up to charlie. it was precious.
the both of them played video games, baseball, had a nerf war and had time to toss around the football while we visited yesterday. all while i chatted with hunter's mom and sister. :)
we just love their family!
they are the sweetest, and we just feel so lucky to have been connected with them through this whole thing.