Four more months.

Now that you've had a break from me for a few days, I'll tell you about the next four months so that you will be all caught up on my oh-so-exciting life.

APRIL

After moving/painting/cleaning/repairing the 

new/old house, we needed a vacation. Conveniently, 

Casey's sister was getting married in Seattle over Easter weekend.

So of course we made a vacation out of it.

We were lucky enough to be there during the beautiful Mount Vernon tulip festival.

We also were able to hang out with (and stay 

with) my mama while we were there!

We visited Deception Pass. (I love this picture.)

And together Kennedy and I re-defined "cool."

Happy wedding, Morgan & Jason! 

MAY

The only thing worth noting for the entire month of May is the fact that I did this:

No lie. I freaking re-upholstered a chair. 

Four of them, actually. And I never want to do 

another one for the rest of my life, so don't ask.

JUNE

June started out with sunshine at the Pride Festival!

(Yes, Kennedy is a banana. Because why not?)

Kennedy turned 11! (I'm still crying. There's no way she is that old.)

And can I just say... she is the sweetest, most loving, 

generous, talented, intelligent, beautiful girl I have ever 

laid my eyes on. And I love her. SO much.

She has been obsessed with sports lately, so she had

a sports-themed birthday party, and of course they
played "Pin the basketball on Michael Jordan's hand." 

And as luck would have it, the weather was perfect, so we
were able to have a swimming party!! (She said it was
her best party ever. Good job, me.)

And, once again, my besties helped me out. This time 

with Kennedy's birthday party. I just love these two.

Next, we went on a couple's trip to Cancun with some of our closest friends!

We stayed at the same hotel where we spent our Honeymoon.

We spent the majority of our time at the beach. Obvi.

But we did take a day trip to Isla Mujeres. 

Las chicas hermosas - waiting for the ferry.

Los hombres guapos. Also waiting for the ferry.

We rented golf carts and drove around the island. SO much fun.

And stopped for some scenic photos.

(Yes, the water was really that color.)

*Sigh. Paradise for sure.

We also stopped by this colorful wall, because we felt like it.

Other than that, we played at the pool, ate a lot of food, 

karaoke'd, shopped, played beach volleyball, and relaxed. 

And ate more food.

And took a million pictures.

I am so glad we have such AMAZING friends who like to travel as much as we do.

Lastly (yes, we're still in June), we went boating with some of our other

really good friends at Echo Reservoir. Summer is pretty fun. Especially with friends.

 JULY

We went camping near Yellowstone for the 4th of July.

Breathtaking, right?

Maddie was in doggy heaven.


Doggy. Heaven. I have never seen her so worn out.

We saw a huge moose while we were playing in the river!
We kept our distance and backed away slowly.

It was seriously gorgeous. (If you could ignore the mosquitoes.)

...and we couldn't ignore the mosquitos. So on the
second day we all packed up and drove to a friend's
house to "camp." And watch fireworks.
It was a blast (no pun intended).

 On the way back home, we stopped to see the majestic Mesa Falls.
'Twas majestic indeed. And there were no mosquitoes. Bonus.

Kennedy has been practicing her mermaid skills.

(This tail is WAY harder to swim in than it looks. Just trust me.)

We visited the animals at the zoo.


This is the only gorilla I would ever dare poke in the eye.
(Ok, I actually meant to pick his nose. But I didn't see
where my finger was. Oops.)

Bald eagle!

I also made a spontaneous 2-day trip up to Seattle to

surprise my brother and his family. They were so excited.

We got a new nephew! Welcome to the world, Beckham!

(I'm already his favorite aunt, by the way. He told me.)

Also in July, we had the Price family reunion! We loved 

having a bunch of the family stay with us from out of town. 

We are kind of obsessed with this niece of ours.

And we had our 1 year anniversary. 

Awwww. 1 year-old frozen cake. 

And you guys- he got me roses. I heart him.

Also, after living in our house for 4 months, 

we FINALLY got some artwork up. (Thanks for
the help, mom!!)

Lastly, I made my first caramel apple pie for Pioneer Day. 

Not to brag or anything, but it was amazing. Sorry I didn't save you any.

And whaddya know? Just like that, I'm all caught up. *Whew. 

Maybe next time it won't take me 8 months (and then 10 hours) to update my blog. 

p.s. I miss all of you fellow bloggers and blog stalkers. <3

Ketchum, etc., Idaho. And my new-found skillz.

Can we all just acknowledge the fact that I suck at blogging regularly? The sooner we accept that, the lower our expectations will be, and life will just be all-around better for everyone. K? K.

A few months ago (see? I'm not even going to hide the fact that I'm posting about something so far after the event), Casey and I went away for a weekend trip with our good friend, Ian (who was also our wedding officiant!). We packed up our camping/outdoor gear, grabbed our dawg, and headed on up for a 5 hour drive to the beautiful Ketchum, Idaho.  

You would think that the drive through Northern Utah/Southern Idaho would be quite bland (shhhh- don't be negative). On the contrary, I saw some scenery that was so picturesque, I actually found it worthy of being captured by my iPhone camera.  

Pretty, huh? 

We happened to be driving during a crazy thunderstorm that evening, which made the sky look absolutely stunning. There were massive bolts of lightning all over the sky- it was SO cool! I love lightning/thunder storms.

During the month of August, the weather is always warm, sunny, and just perfect, right?
False. Very false.
Apparently this particular weekend, August decided to be stupid and give us freezing, wet, cloudy, 30 degree weather.
It was cold. Ugh.
But we braved it, anyway, and set up camp in the cold. Hi Ian!

Here's our gigantic 9-person tent we received for our wedding. It is almost as cool as those Harry Potter tents. Almost. Ok, not really. But it's still cool.

I never see this dog so happy as when she's outside playing.

The next morning, we drove through the gorgeous canyon with this guy:

and saw some super cool wildlife, such as this:

We drove to Stanley Lake (in Stanley, Idaho) to get our fishin' on. It was cold. 

You guys, this place is gorgeous. Right??

(I want to frame this.)

Aw, we're cute.

Aw, they're cute.

We fished pretty much all day. Maddie couldn't seem to control herself near a lake, and kept scaring all the fishes away by romping carelessly through the water, so we had to tie her to this big log. (It's our fault for bringing a golden retriever near water and forbidding her from going in it.) Sorry.

Total loot= 4 fish caught, but one was a super-fish and wriggled his way off the stick and back into the safety the water, so... we had 3 to take home. (Please note, I caught zero of them.)

GAH! The beauty is just too much. I can't handle it.

Sigh.

Ok. A photography lesson on lighting...because even though I really don't know much about photography, my mom does, and I like pictures, and that's pretty much the same thing.

Lesson: lighting matters.

These two pictures were taken in basically the same place, about 10 minutes apart (no photo editing on either of them):

6:50 pm

7:00 pm

See the difference? WOW, right? Perfect example of how much lighting can change a picture.

You are welcome for your photography lesson of the day. Stay tuned if you want to read more of my ignorant and unsolicited BS.

After fishing, we went to eat at a nearby restaurant. I took more scenic pictures. Because now that I'm a photographer, that's what I do.

 When we got back to camp, we (ok, not me. But the boys) cooked up the fish for an evening snack.

Fish heads, fish heads, roly poly fish heads...

Bon appétit! 

Before we braved the 5 hour drive back home the next day, Ian let us play with his crossbow.

So guess what, guys. Not only am I now a professional photographer, I'm also the next Katniss Everdeen. So don't worry- I got your back.