My favorite part of 2012.

It keeps hitting me... like I could forget. I get my marry my best friend.

Four days after Christmas, on a beach in Mexico, Aaron asked me to marry him. The sunset was fading quickly and a sneak attack photographer snapped pictures of everything. Aaron got down on one knee and I can't imagine a more perfect moment. Of course I said yes!

The rest of the night, and probably the rest of our vacation, I floated around with little hearts encircling my head. I am so blessed to have him and I couldn't be more excited to be his wife and spend our life together! 

continued thankfulness

Did you think from my last post that I was going to post everyday? Gotcha!

I am very thankful that I am too busy to blog everyday. Is that okay to be thankful for?

I'm thankful that my mornings are busy pouring cereal and refereeing foursquare and mushroom ball. (I may not understand their rules these days, because they have changed since I was in elementary... but I love spending mornings with those kiddos.)

I'm thankful that my days are filled with friends... coffee dates spent learning and growing and enjoying these friendships are the best.

I'm thankful that my days are also filled with office time. Being a natural organizer/recorder, I love spending time filing and scheduling and planning.

I'm thankful that my afternoons are spent with sweet kindergarteners and first graders. I get to teach them to tie their shoes, resolve conflict (ALL THE TIME) and most importantly I get to show them how God loves them... not just in my actions and interactions but I can actually bust out my Bible (or their kid's Bible) and read. Ah, private school. :)

All of these daily activities make me even more thankful for the days that I can sit down and relax. And blog. And sip coffee for the taste and not just for the energy. You know those kind of days? Maybe you don't, but they are nice. And I am thankful for them.

day one of thankfulness... orting.

I could start an entire new blog that just chronicles my thankfulness day-to-day.

With that being said, I'm giving in to the stereotypical 'thankful' posts this November.

Today I am especially thankful for my sweet town. No one can convince me that they live in a more beautiful place than I do. I am continually amazed at the beauty of God's creation in the PNW, and especially in Orting. 

Take a moment to look at what us Ortingites... is that right?... get to see everyday. 

 Blue skies, gray skies... it is always beautiful here. 

And let me tell you, the beauty of our surroundings is only a small part of what makes Orting so great. 

I have traveled the country, and seen a little bit of the world, but I am so thankful that God brought me back to my hometown. I love being a part of this community... knowing everyone in town, going to each of the little festivals in town (there are so many!), running on the trail, joining the entire population at the high school football games... its all so good. 

 

 I'm not sure if we have some sort of special bond because we all chose to live under an active volcano or what, but the people in Orting actually act like a community. I love it.

 

If you haven't been to Orting, you're missing out. It's a gem. And I am thankful.

God knows me well and loves me so.

Every few months, I blog about how much of a failure I am at blogging. 

So my dear readers, I am a failure at blogging. And I'm sorry.

I do have some cool crafting ideas and a crafting party coming up, so I will update with pictures and what not.

Until then, I'll update you on why I'm not blogging. My summer was filled with adventure and excitement. I went to Haiti. I drove back and forth across the state multiple times. I worked at Abundant Life's summer camp for eight days. I had a family reunion/camping trip in Cle Elum and then went to Lummi Island with Aaron's family on Labor Day weekend.

I had no time to slow down between summer festivities and the start of my new job in September. I came home from Lummi and started working the very next morning. 

I have been blessed with a job that I love. It is so perfect for my life right now that there is no way I could have planned or even prayed for something this good. God knows me well and loves me so. 

This post is short and sweet, but I'll leave you with some pictures.

 These are a couple kids from my class on Fair Day. We did some face painting, obviously. And we have a husky fan... which I am a fan of.

 Our theme this week was creepy crawlers. Since I'm not a fan of REAL creepy crawlers, we made cute pipe cleaner spiders instead. :)

 At camp, I hung out in the sound booth everyday. Our campers practiced dramas all week that they performed at Summerfest in the Orting Park that weekend. I played and replayed and replayed and REPLAYED the song for one of the groups while they practiced. It was very fun, and that coffee mug was my very best friend all week. :)

 Of course, Aaron and I made a trip to the bakery while we were in Cle Elum. It is ALMOST as cute as the Orting Bakery. 

Ah, the mountain in summer. Its already completely white again, no beautiful blue peeking out. But that's okay, I have this picture to remind me of its summer beauty.

Recording

I've always loved recording. I have a box full of journals in my closet. They are all halfway full, but that is just because I love buying new ones. I like to fill planners with all my dates and classes and activities. There is just something about being able to go back and look at what I've been up to that I love. I have a jar in my room with a ribbon tied around the top. Next to it, I keep little scraps of paper and write down precious memories that I don't want to forget, fold them up and put them in the jar. Then at the end of the year I dump out the jar and read all of my sweet memories from the year.

Blogging is the same. I've kept a blog for almost seven years. How cool is it that I can go back to August of 2006 and read all about my summer? I laugh and my self often. I'm embarrassed even more often. But I just love having everything recorded.

I go through phases where I am more private. Most of my days and memories are scrawled out on the pages of my journal. Then I stick it in my Bible and keep it with me in case I am hit with a verse or a moment that I need to write down. These are the times that my blog is neglected and my Facebook friends think I have nothing going on in my life.

Other times I am so excited about the things going on that I record it everywhere. I blog about it, write it in my journal, Instagram it, Facebook it, tweet it... you name it, I've got it out there for all my friends to see and read and like and retweet. Its great that social media keeps us connected with friends close and far away, but I am more thankful for the recording and chronological organization of it. That probably makes me a super nerd, whatever.

I want to take full advantage of all the cool technology available to me. My parents are pretty much limited to school pictures and family vacations when it comes to looking back at their lives. I've got pictures of homemade salsa and wildfires and tanlines and hockey game dates that all have dates attached to them. And that's just from this year. Why do I love this so much? I am such a recorder.