so saucy

We've been living on an apple orchard for the past year. Only in the last few months have we been able to reap the benefits of that (other than the natural beauty of it that is). Fall was so lovely up here, and how sweet it was to be able to walk out our front door and pick a huge fresh apple right off the tree. We pressed fresh cider, ate apples and peanut butter until we couldn't no more, and for the first time ever I made homemade applesauce.

My dear friend Holly and I ventured out to can applesauce one lovely afternoon.

Step 1: collecting the apples

step 2: washing, peeling, and slicing

step 3: boiling down (we didn't add any sugar or spices- we wanted applesauce in the purest form)

step 4: blending into saucy goodness

step 5: distribution into the jars

step 6: a little time boiling to seal them up

step 7: admire the finished product

chair recovery

As summer commenced this year, so did garage saling season. I love garage saling- the thrill of searching for a treasure, a steal of a deal amongst someone else's throw aways. For many a Friday mornings this past summer I would meet up with a couple of good friends at Starbucks, grab coffee, plan our garage saling route, and be on our way. We'd be gone for a few hours and end up at the end with items we'd felt like we'd almost stolen. Some of my thrifty finds this summer included depression glassware plates, vintage pyrex bowls, roller blades for my husband and I, an antique dovetailed drawer dresser for $7.50, and this chair:
I almost passed it up, but considering my friend Holly talked the lady down from $5 to $4 it was pretty much a no brainer at that point. (P.S. - there were two identical chairs and Holly walked away the proud owner of the second one). We had big hopes of recovering our little beauties, convincing ourselves it would be a breeze. Well not exactly a breeze later (it might have taken us about 19 hours in all to tear off the old stuff, cut out the pieces, sew the piping, and figure out how to staple it all back together), we finally have lovely little chairs.

headed to kenya

The last month of the bible school we are currently serving in is an international mission trip. Previously (we're talking five years ago), when I was an RA for the bible school our team went to Romania and helped establish the only Christian ministry on a college campus of nearly 30,000 students. Recently, we found out we'd be headed to Kenya, Africa on November 10th! There is a neat ministry there that is an organic farm (almost fully sustaining themselves, and helping to do the same for others in the community), an orphanage, a vocational school, and a light in a dark place. We are excited for the opportunity to serve along side of them, share the gospel with surrounding villages, and be a witness to the lost. Praise the Lord for the generosity of our friends and family for supporting us as we seek to do so.

a couple of little projects

Here are a couple sewing/knitting projects I've squeezed in in between all my food coordinator responsibilities up here at the bible school.

I took this ugly shirt I bought for 20 cents at a thrift store, removed the lace......and sewed it onto this shirt I got as a hand me down from my sister for freeNow that fall is here, I pulled out my knitting needles and concocted up this little diddy:

double whammie

Jake's birthday is August 28th and our anniversary is September 1st. They fall so close together so celebrating both is often a whirlwind of hoopla. For Jake's birthday (he's 26 now! holy smokes) we slept in and had a lovely breakfast/morning together. My parents had come to visit for the weekend so we went and had a fried chicken, macaroni salad, potato chip picnic in Mt. Ranier national forest with them and my brother and sister in law and niece and nephew. We hiked from our picnic spot up a couple of miles to a beautiful viewpoint. Here's proof...

our picnic spot

happy birthday my love!we like to jump
the gang
hippo faces
For our anniversary we had a lovely little breakfast together on the patio, laughing about all the shenanigans in our life over the past few years. Ie - living above Bob, Darla, Diamond, Jewel and Jezebel . a spur of the moment road trip to disneyland . various business ventures (berry boys berries, granolas, craigslisting furniture) . owning a home . selling our home by owner . having two roommates . working together at Sharkies coffee . taking a month long trip to asia... Later that evening we set up a romantic dinner (tri-tip, cheesy bread, and a delicious salad) for two out in the orchard. We dined together as the sun went down, then headed inside to cuddle up and watch a movie and have dessert. Best anniversary to date!
I am so blessed to share my life with such an incredible man. And look forward to the many more adventures I get to share with you. Thank you for standing by my side in all that life throws at us. You are my best friend!

backpacking 30

Last weekend we decided last minute to go backpacking with a couple of friends from college. We ended up hiking 30 miles in about a day and a half. To be honest, I was pretty astonished that I could keep up with the 3 boys (considering I hadn't been backpacking for 4 years). It was a weekend of a good work out, beautiful views, and great fellowship. Here are a few snapshots...

wedding hoopla

On our way home from loon lake we swung through Portland and stayed a night with Jake's parents. Which ended up turning into a week for me. I had the privilege of hanging out with my inlaws and sister in law. Since it was a couple weeks before my sister in law got married, we ran around and did a bunch of wedding errands and projects. Needless to say I loved every moment of it. It was a blessing to spend some quality time with my family and help out with the wedding as much as I could. Here are a few of the projects I had the privilege of heading up...

paper pinwheel flower garlands:

tags for the favors:
my sister in law had bought a flower clip for her hair, but when she tried it on with her dress it was the wrong color. I recreated it with fabric in the right tones. The one on the left is the one I made and the one on the right is the store bought one that was returned:that project ended up turning into making flower hair clips for the bridesmaids as well:

3rd love of my life - loon lake

Behind my Lord and my husband of course. I hesitate to even post the name of this lake in fear that it will result in an overcrowding of my getaway locale. However, based on the fact that in reality no one reads this, I did. Loon Lake is my happy place. Not that I'm not happy in other spots too (especially when I'm with my husband), but this is just the creme de la creme for me. My entire family goes for at least one week every summer and my relatives have been going since before my dad was born. It's in our blood. You just can't beat the sandy beach, sunshine, special snacks, horseshoes, games, campfires, family time, and traditions that have been repeated summer after summer after summer. Here's a few snapshots from our time this year....

late night board games:
sandcastles with our niece and nephew:
a loon lake tradtion- lil smokies roasted over the fire:
kickin it at the beach:

love at the beach:

the whole gang:

lunch time:

fellowship . friendship . feasting . & fireworks

We rounded out our two weeks of housesitting by having our dear german friends come and stay with us our last two nights. For the story of how we first met go here. It is incredible that we have spent less than a total of a week with them, and yet the likemindedness is so apparent. The fellowship that we have with other believers is deep and true and intimate. We are so thankful that the Lord has blessed us with these special friends who we met under very special circumstances.

We spent our two days at the mansion hanging by the pool, taking them fishing for the first time (where Pete caught his first fish), cooking delicious meals together, talking, laughing, hot tubbing, and chasing the beefalo. And of course we had to show them a decent small town fourth of July celebration, so we took them to the Naches firework display on the 3rd of July. Apparently Naches has so much americana running through it's blood that they celebrate our independence on the third and fourth of July!

Early Sunday morning we packed up, said goodbye to the mansion and drove to Seattle. Pete and Olga had been listening to Mark Driscoll's sermons online throughout their 7 month trip around the world so we went to church at Mars Hill so they could experience the real deal. Lucky for us our dear friend Joey lives in Seattle and is the best host/tour guide around. We spent the rest of that day and the next touring Seattles hot spots, chocolate shops, markets, parks, skyline views, trolls under the bridge, and a few little restaurants (delicious doughnut shop, gyros, southern bbq). There was also a little 4th of July bbq, a board game, and some rock band thrown in for good measure. The things we did were special and fun, but the relationships were our favorite part. I think it's safe to say we all ended the weekend encouraged by the friendships and the time spent in deep, meaningful conversations. To have this kind of love for our friends and brothers is overwhelming and made us walk away from the weekend with our hearts filled with praise for our God.