Mid-July 2014

Where has the time gone???? It's already mid July! We've been in our new home for nearly 5 months now. At the end of June we emptied out our storage unit, so we're officially moved in! We are still unpacking and organizing, but making progress! Joel and I have been kept pretty busy between work, family & church. He has been called as the 2nd counselor in the Fremont branch presidency and I have been called as the Young women's President. It has been a blast! We love the branch and living in the middle of the woods. Below are some updated pictures of our house in the summer. It's lovely surrounded in green!

This summer has been fun so far! In June, Amanda, Alex, Caden, Alyssa, Grace, and I drove from Grand Rapids, MI to Baltimore, MD for our step-sister, Neena's, wedding. It was a crazy trip with 3 kids under the age of 2, but I'm glad we went. It was nice to spend time with our family that we don't see very often, some being in California & Maryland (previously Hawaii). I love my sisters, nephews, and niece very much and I'm grateful for the time spent with them.

Two weeks later I went to Glen Arbor, MI with Amanda, Luke, Alex, and Caden for a family vacation. Luke's family gets together every year up there and Amanda asked me to go to help out with the boys. We spent some time at the beach, hiked on a nature bluff trail overlooking Lake Michigan, and walked around the shops in Glen Arbor.

For Independence Day this year, Joel and I stayed home to participate in a community event in Hesperia: the Family Fun Festival. They had an art fair, remote control car races, rubber duck races, carnival food, tractor pulls, horse pulls, and others that we didn't get to attend. After walking around for 2.5-3 hours, we went into Fremont for dinner and movie. Then we went back to Hesperia to watch the firework show. For being a small town, they did a great job! It was fun to just spend the entire day with my love.

This weekend (July 11th and 12th) was a wedding weekend for us! I attended the wedding reception of a long time family friend on Friday night and it was a lovely event! Simple & classy in decoration, fantastic & tons of food, and so much love! The Wilson family are such wonderful people and the 4 sisters are amazing. The oldest sister gave a beautiful speech and the other two sisters each sang a song for the bride & groom. On Saturday, Joel and I attended our friend and co-worker's wedding. It was an outdoor wedding, and although it was a rainy/overcast day, it was a beautiful one! This wedding was also simple & elegant, under a tent in the woods. We had great bbq style food and cake. Joel and I even danced tonight!

 Our home in summer

Our creek

Maryland trip

 Maryland trip

Glen Arbor