Wedding Flowers

I had the pleasure of doing the flowers for my brother-in-law's wedding last weekend, July 24th. Unfortunately I only got pictures of the bride's bouquet and throw bouquet, but believe me, everything else was pretty too! For the bridesmaid's bouquets we did orange and yellow dahlias with plumosa, variegated pittosporum and some white little flowers that we get from a local grower (I can't remember what they're called). And then the boutonnieres were orange roses with plumosa (the groom's was a yellow orchid to match the bride) and the corsages were a mixture of daisies, carnations and roses.

The Bride's Bouquet: white asiatic lilies, orange roses, white hydrangea, and yellow cymbidium orchids with some plumosa.

I love the way it turned out! The ribbon we used to wrap it was like burlap, complimented it nicely.

Throw Bouquet: yellow-y/orange dahlias, orange spray roses, white hydrangea, solidaster, with some plumosa.

Hand Tram

Alaska is seriously one of the most amazing places on earth! We have mountains, wild animals in our back yards, crazy combat fishing, and beautiful almost unworldly forests and waterfalls. Don't believe me? Take a look at these pics from a hike we went on a few weekends ago.

Location: Girdwood, Alaska

This is the Hand Tram. Some one has to pull you across or if you're like us, you pull yourselves across.

Crossing over the river. I have no idea how high up we were.

Gorgeous!

This place reminds me of The Lord of The Rings, so beautiful and almost unbelievable.

Our Kitty, LaRue

We recently celebrated out 1st anniversary. I think our clock must be ticking (hehe) because we decided we needed something to "parent". So we adopted a kitten. She is absolutely adorable and very sweet, but also very curious. Right now she is snuggled on my lap taking a nap and purring very loud! Oh yeah, we named her LaRue (after the christian band). The pound thought that she was about 3 months old and I think she weighs about 3 pounds.

She snuggled on Eli's lap and watched him play COD.

We took pictures when we got home so we could show people, but she didn't want to be held. Too many new things to smell!

She is so precious!

Marriage Challenge

We have started a new series at church called Sexual Revolution. I'm sure you can imagine how funny and awkward the sermons can get! It's about how the world has messed up our view of sex and what God meant it to be. So, not only are we hearing about it on Sundays, we are also reading a book called 30 Day Sex Challenge, by Paul & Susie Wirth. And the challenge is exactly what you're thinking...... have sex for 30 days (if you are married, if you're not, stay pure!). But it is not just about having sex with your spouse, it's about developing a deeper intimacy with each and God. For each day there is a verse to read and then either some questions about your relationship like, "how easy is it for you to talk about sex", and "what do you hope to gain from this book", or ideas on how to create a more romantic, intimate relationship. And there is so much more I could say about this, but not nearly enough room. Go to awkwardsexblog.blogspot.com to learn more and see what the pastors have to say!

So in the spirit of being romantic, Eli sent me flowers the other day! He's such a sweetie. I had the pleasure of arranging them myself, which means I get to play around.

Zucchini Bread

I have been meaning to make this for a few days now, but never seemed to have enough time until today. And Zucchini Bread usually isn't my favorite, but we had some extra zucchini sitting around and this was a good way to get rid of it. And I really like it!

Mom's Zucchini Bread (not my mom, I found this online)

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2 1/4 cups white sugar

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional, I didn't have any and I don't like nuts in my bread)

Directions:

Grease and flour two 8x4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Sift flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon together in a bowl.

Beat eggs, oil, vanilla and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake for 40 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes.

Our Bike Ride

Eli getting his bike ready to go. We had to buy new pedals and arm shafts at REI to get his bike to work. :)

Biking along the Glenn. Loving the beautiful weather!

We stopped at Fred Meyer's for some drinks.
Then stopped at this cute little stream for a break.



This is one of the cutest bridges here.


And then we saw a moose on our street. Poor thing was limping and was pretty spooked.
I was in a hurry to get this picture before he ran off, but it turned out kinda cool.
Our short little ride turned out to be an hour and a half long and who knows how many miles! But it was definitely worth it. We'll sleep well tonight! :) And I got some sunburn on my shoulders and chest...... oh well.

Praise God!

I have so many reasons to being praising God right now. Not only is it BEAUTIFUL outside, but it actually smells like summer and I am getting a tan. :) But the biggest reason to be praising God right now (at least for me) is that my biopsy report came back clear! And it only took them two days instead of the five they told me it would take. Amazing! I am so relieved, thankful, overjoyed, etc!!!!!! The only thing I have to do now is get a check-up once a year to make sure nothing has changed. But that doesn't bother me at all. Now I get to enjoy Memorial Weekend and the rest of my summer without this HUGE weight hanging over me and dragging me down.

Thank you so much for all your prayers. I was and still am overwhelmed by everyone's love and support. It meant a lot to us. Thank God for wonderful friends and family.

Have a good and safe Memorial Weekend!

P.S. I do have quite the bruise from the biopsy which I would love to show off, but that would probably be inappropriate, considering where it is. :)