I grilled!

I grilled all by myself the other day while Josh was doing his weekly friend game/chat thing.

 I'm very proud of myself, if you can't tell.

I just came home and was craving one and went for it.

(and didn't burn anything down or drop one on the ground)

Gourmet Burgers:

ground beef (enough for 4-6 burgers)

1/2 jalapeno; diced

1/2 white onion; diced

3 cloves garlic; minced

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp red chili peppers

1   mash all the ingredients together in a bowl

2   shape them into burgers

3   and grill

toppings (this is the best part)

fresh parsley

sliced fresh vine tomato

fresh goat cheese

ciabatta bread sliced into squares and then cut down the middle

We bought an amazing goat cheese at whole foods one day and I've been dying to slather it on something amazing- and this was the perfect highlight for it!

Also I made a side dish (I never make these so hubs was a little shocked)

Glazed green beans:

1 lb of green beans

2 tbs olive oil

3 tbs balsamic vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

few shakes of red chili pepper

4 cloves garlic; minced

1/2 white onion; diced

1   I cooked the green beans in boiling water

2   then heated up the oil and vinegar with the spices

3   threw in onion and garlic until browned

4   tossed in green beans to coat

5   viola! stupidly simple but a really great fast fresh dinner side dish, full of veggies!

I loved this burger also because neither of us really like condiments on things but I wanted a lot of flavor and it to be a great juicy burger still  - and this combo rocked it! We each had two :)

Rat City Rollergirls

We went with friends to the Rat City Rollergirls match this past Saturday. We had fun eating junk food and trying to figure out all of the rules. Don't worry we all got pretty into it!

We also went to a great restaurant for some pretzels and other goodies. It rocked!

Sailing!

Our friends invited us to go sailing with them last week. It was a nice night and they made sausages and fruit salad and chocolate pudding!

It was a lot of fun and we've never been sailing before. So glad we got to spend such a pretty night with them!

sailing fashion shots of course

1 year anniversary vacation

We were so blessed to have met friends in Seattle with friends in Michicgan with a cabin- that they let us borrow for a few days. It allowed us to stay after the wedding and have some alone time. We did some wine tasting- they have a cherry wine there (actually they have a lot of cherry things there).



This is the sweet little cabin we stayed in.



We went jetskiing! It was a spontaneous idea that we both actually realized we wanted to do. The day was gorgeous and the water was so pretty we just wanted to get out into it. I was definately the crazy driver, but Joshua picked up some cool James Bond spin moves. It was so crazy when you weren't the one driving but just had to hold on (I know I'll be judged for this but- You know how on the show the bachelor they always climb something high or jump into something together and then say if they can get through that they can do anything? That's what we decided this was- now we're so sure since we did this together our marriage will stick haha, well we thought it was amusing  )

We made hobo dinners with veggies and roasted sausages.

Hubs had never seen sand dunes so we hiked the dune trail through to Lake Michigan. It was hot but a really beautiful hike and a great walk to get to just talk. The water and all the pretty waves at the end of the hike was an awesome reward.

The last night dinner through another Crazy thunderstorm which then became sunshine again as soon as dinner was over, grabbed a local bottle of wine and watched the sunset.

I've always thought of this kind of vacation as some fantasy with waves, sunshine, beaches I'd do with my husband and it was perfect! Our anniversary beachy vacation rocked!

P.S. It has been a week and we still haven't unpacked oops :)

Michigan Wedding Weekend

Last weekend we flew to Michigan to celebrate our friend Jessica's wedding. We had an absolute blast! We went straight off a red eye flight to group kayaking, wine tasting, boating, night out with college friends, wedding, drinks on a beach and dock, croquet, cocktail hour, reception, dancing our faces off, pie eating, thunderstorms,  to brunch!

Whew! It was an amazing weekend full of friends and exploring. We got in so much quality time with people that we've really missed and really love!
Plus we all got to stay in a cabin together with some of the most wonderful hosts I've ever had!

Her wedding was gorgeous and we actually got to spend a lot of time with her as well which was really special. Not to mention hubs and I truly enjoyed the sunshine and heat!

What a stunning man!



Jessica played some croquet with us :)





we all wore bright colored dresses to commemorate Jessica
 who ALWAYS has the brightest most cheereful clothes!



we've missed thunderstorms!

It really was full of only awesomeness! We miss everyone a lot already!

Plus it was so fun to be at a wedding a few days before our 1 year anniversary and reminisce.
Then we took a few days to ourselves to celebrate our marriage which I'll put photos up of soon :)

1 Year Anniversary!!!

1 year! I can't believe it's here already! Yay

This past year has been so big and so full in many many ways but marrying Joshua still takes it all. The way I felt on that day is nothing to how deeply he has penetrated my heart now. We found the first year to be freeing. For so long we've wanted this and now when I'm having a bad day he can squeeze me and bring me ice cream, we can lay in bed all day talking about everything, we can argue and cry and irritate but he's always still standing there! This man is helping me become who I want to be and encouraging me to become so much more. His Godly heart and sometimes surprising adoration for me had made this past year so much more than I ever dreamed of.  I know we still don't even know that much about being married, but it feels like we've figured out how to learn about it together, which is really encouraging and hopeful.

Moving across the country has been really hard on us and at times we took that out on each other. But moving out here has forced us to rely on each other and helped us learn how to give each other strength to stand tall when the other can't. God has truly blessed our relationship out here. Not having people surrounding us all the time has given us many opportunities to just drink coffee and talk about who we want to be and what we want our lives to be about. God has been training us how to be One out here. We've been able to concentrate on each other in a way we never have before and I feel so blessed and encouraged that it is Joshua I get to do all this with.

Hubs I love you and can't wait to continue seeing who we can

 become through our shared life and love for one another!

Thank you to everyone who has supported us this past year as well. Supported us in our marriage, our moving across the country, for the encouragement, understanding, and willingness to listen. There are so many of you who have been an important part of who we are.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Padre.

We miss you and wish we could be with you today!

I appreciate so much who you are and who you've helped me become, but even more than that I appreciate who you are to Joshua. The way you love him and accept him as family makes my heart melt.
When he addressed your father's day card "Dad" I almost cried because I love that you have made him feel loved and accepted and therefore uninhibited to write that.

You are the best dad and I hope that your Father's Day rocks!

And Happy Father's Day to our Grandpa's, wether they are here with us or not, wether they are truly blood relatives or not you guys mean a lot to us!

Father-Daughter Dance
Dad's visit to Seattle

This weekend

We had a pretty chill weekend, we're resting up to go to MI this weekend for my friend Jessica's wedding and to celebrate our 1 year anniversary!!!!! But I still have a few stories...

We went to a lame community garage sale with our friend, but I did get scrabble for $5. We also were close to Volunteer Park so we explored the conservatory. It ended up being a relaxing Saturday morning. Then that night I went to the video store and ran into our friends who were getting a movie and had just had indian food for dinner, I was getting a movie and ordered indian food for us too. The coincidence made me smile :)

And on Monday we grabbed happy hour with our friend Jessica. When I went to order wine I said I'd like Pinot, the waiter said which kind, I said I didn't really care which one, he said RED or WHITE, I replied- o ha I didn't know pinot was both at Trader Joe's I just grab the pinot and it's white, I'm pretty sure he didn't like us after that and went back to the other waiters to complain about my ignorance of wine oops :)

But we had some good food and went back to our place to make martinis with mixes we've been dying to try out. Overall it was a fantastic Monday full of good converstation and laughter!!!

The rest of this week has been dreary out, and everyone seems to be feeling the impact of it. Which just makes me even more excited for Michigan and sun and even, dare I say, humidity  :)



cuddly



Josh was touching the tree, until he realized it was covered with bugs

air plants