Summer Has Come and Gone

Fall is in full swing in my neck of the woods all though the weather isn't reflecting it. Andy and I came down with the first debilitating colds of the year this past week...that's how I know we've hit fall. Fox 12's weather blog called this July-mid October the driest on record, ever! It's been hot.We just took our air conditioning unit out of the window today.

Here's a recap of this summer:

June was pretty uneventful. It marked the start of a very busy wedding season as we went to Rachael (Rotter) now Gross' wedding. Spring term also came to a close just to have summer term kick off a week later. On that week break, we journeyed to Battle Ground Lake and camped for 2 nights. Needless to say, it rained. After all, what could we expect? Did we really think that we would stay dry while taking a camping trip in June? I think we've learned our lesson that summer doesn't really start until July in Oregon. The highlight of this month was Timmy (my brother-in-law) decided to get baptized when they came up to visit us at the lake. Phil & Kate (brother/sister-in-law) also came up to visit for the day and brought along the cutest little one year old (Xa) to play in the mud at out campsite.

 Timmy making public his decision to follow Christ through water baptism at Battle Ground Lake.

 Camping breakfast.

Trenches had to be dug around our tent to keep water out.

July brought another wedding and some long awaited sunshine. I had the privilege of standing along side my friend Christina as she wedded Stanley Friesen. The Branches Camping trip to Kilichis was also in July. Little did Andy and I know, July was a pretty chill month compared to the storm of events that awaited us in August and September.

Cooking chicken fajitias at the Branches Campout.

August held 2 more weddings, 3 family birthdays (including Andy's 30th), a new job for me and a family vacation. Heather and Jerry, our friends from church, were wedded on August 18th. Andy played a set of Beatles songs at their reception. On the same night, Nichole and Adam (Nichole was once in my small group), tied the knot. Since we couldn't be in 2 places at once, we attended Heather and Jerry's due to the fact that Andy was reception entertainment. The very next day was Andy's 30th birthday also a Sunday. We took the day off from all of our duties at church to celebrate. We traveled to Lincoln City and stayed the night at The Shalishan Lodge, a great place to stay! We will go back, hopefully soon. After that we drove up the coast to take part in my side of the families vacation. We stayed at a beach house in Cape Meares, just a few miles away from where we got engaged last November. Two nights later we were on our way back home so I could start my new internship at Intel. Somewhere at the beginning of August, I interviewed for an administrative assistant position at the largest employer in the state.

 Gorgeous weather!

 Timmy, Briana and Abe

 Happy 30th Birthday

 Celebrating August Birthdays! Andy(30) Rhonda & Dan (55)

On to September...Wedding season really ramped up this month. On the first Saturday of September, Andy preformed his first wedding as an ordained minister for a couple from Branches. (Side note: Andy has been ordained for 3 years just never been asked to preform a wedding. Must be because he wasn't married himself.) Fast forward 7 days to the next weekend, Andy was preforming wedding #2. This time I was the wedding coordinator for my good friend and ex roommate Katy (Pedersen) Smith. Then just one short week later we were celebrating our best friends, Rachael (Christophersen) & Dustin Ward's wedding. As this month came to a close, I started back to school at PCC for my last term before I transfer in January to Warner Pacific College to finish my bachelors degree.

We are very glad to be in the second week of October, done with weddings and settling in to what feels like a more normal routine. It's looking like December will be a fun month as we are going to Disneyland with the Kangas side of the family and of course Christmas will cap off the month. I am very much looking forward to the holidays this year and hitting our one year anniversary at the end of the season. God is still our sustenance through it all.

Sneaking Away, Moving Away, Flying Away, GETTING AWAY

Tuesdays are my only day off during the week where I don't have any commitments. No school. No church. Just time to do whatever my heart pleases. Typically, Tuesday becomes my recovery day. I sleep half the day away, make a to do list for the week and do homework. Between doing all those things, there is not a lot of time to just do whatever I want because Wednesday comes awfully fast.

On my run today it started pouring down rain. It's July and I was in a downpour of Oregon rain. Not exactly what I expected but it was kind of nice. I was on a secluded trail by a stream and I decided to pretend that I was in Hawaii because it was warm out but raining a ton. This was fun for a little while until I really got thinking about going on vacation. I would so totally love to get away right now! I don't even need Hawaii, the Oregon coast would do just fine! (side note: I love watching the ocean, I could spend hours watching the waves crash against the shore.)  So as my run continues, I start scheming this get away in my head, what days I could go, who I would take with me (if anyone), where I would stay, how long I would stay and what I would do. Then this little summer get away becomes this thought of 'What if I just move away? After all, things have been pretty crazy, people have been getting on my last nerve and I just feel kind of like sneaking away from it all would be kind of nice.'

And I stop this thought right there and ask myself it that would really be the best thing to do. Of course I come to the conclusion that running away from things when they get tough and people get annoying is not the best option.

When I started working at Branches, I was given a model airplane. It was the kind that came all boxed up and shrink wrapped. The kind that I have to build, something I have never done before. This plane was supposed to be symbolic of when things get rough, our tendency is to want to fly away but it is worth it to stay and fight the good fight. My boss explained this to me and I didn't really think anything of it at the time. I took the plane home and just let it sit on the shelf for a while. I eventually got around to building it and it didn't turn out half bad! So now here I am on this dreary afternoon, just a little while after this plane was given to me, contemplating what it would be like to just fly away. 

But then then I am reminded that I am not the only person in the world to have ever felt this way and instead of sneaking away, moving away, flying away, what have you; the best option would be for me to stay and fight the good fight and possibly book my self a hotel at the coast for a night!

Oh, and here is what my plane turned out like! Bombin', I know!