When the Sun Comes Out. . .

people do crazy things. Like climb the face of a mountain. That is what my mom and I did yesterday morning.

We both thought, "What a lovely morning it is. Why stay cooped up in the house?"

Then my mom decided we should take a hike. I agreed. We discovered there are natural arches on the tip of the mountain behind our house. My mom decided we should go see them. I agreed. So we packed some water and candy bars and brought Ringo, our loyal dog, along with us for the adventure. Turns out we didn't know where we were going and finding the arches was not as easy as we had initially planned. So we just climbed. . .to an unknown destination.

We climbed through trees. We slid down piles of rock. We swatted at giant mosquitoes. We crawled on hands and knees up a cliff where I am pretty sure only deer had trod and snakes had slithered.

I think I will stick to hiking trails from now on.

Oh, and we also watched a snake eat a mouse. . .

My legs are a bit weak today, but we now have beautiful hand-picked bouquets of wildflowers in mason jars on the kitchen table. And I think Ringo is fully prepared to be lazy for a few days. That poor dog. He never knows what he is getting himself into.  

I Still Play Pretend

I, like many others, am growing sick of all this rain and yucky weather.
I, too, want summer. Badly.

I want sun warming my skin, I want tan lines, and I want shorts and sandals.
I want otter pops, I want to roll the windows down, and I want fresh fruit.
I want roasted hot dogs and mallows, I want swimming pools, and I want bare feet in the grass.
I want ice cold drinks, I want sleeping on the tramp, and I want early morning runs.

But wanting all these things and being grouchy because of the grey weather will not make the sun come out any sooner. So for now, I just play pretend.

I turn up the volume to my Mumford and Sons music. It is Irish music. For sure. The music makes you tap your foot and the lyrics are raw and deep. Then as I look around at the very green rolling hills, I don't feel so bad. Wispy clouds are hovering right above land, the mountains are engulfed by them. The air smells like fresh rain. I realize I am in a green, rainy dream and the fiddle keeps playing in the background.

I am in Ireland, folks. I have just changed my gloomy Idaho/Utah surroundings into Ireland. I am on vacation and I didn't even have to purchase a plane ticket. It's funny how my outlook on something can change everything.

It seems even more real when I make Brian talk to me in an Irish accent. Hopefully the rain passes in the next 9 days though. Because my pretend Irish man is leaving for South America for a month. I am so excited for him. You can bet the month of June I'll be spending some time pretending my new destination is South America. With him.

Yes, I still play pretend and I hope that I always will.

Not Exactly Camera Shy

79 days until I marry Brian.

2 days ago we had engagement pictures taken.

It was an absolute blast!

Melanie Gunnell took our pictures. You can check her blog out by just clicking here!
She does some amazing work and she's such a fun, bubbly, energetic person.

I have been excited about getting pictures taken basically since Brian proposed. Brian was a super good sport about all the picture uproar too, and honestly I think he liked it all just as much as I did (if not more). We carefully planned our outfits, gathered props and were determined to not have the regular, every day engagement photos. You know, the ones where the couple smiles and the girl elegantly sets her left hand on the man's chest to show off her ring?

I think we pulled off what we wanted. I am already antsy to see the outcome. But patient I will be! Just to get someone excited (even if that someone is only me) our pictures involved:

Sidewalk chalk creations, pretending to be in a different time era, old suitcases, train tracks, my great grandmother's dress, Brian wearing suspenders, chasing Canadian geese, Brian serenading me with Ginger the guitar, cuddling in colorful quilts, kissing behind our favorite book, and almost getting eaten by the biggest beast of a dog I have ever laid eyes on.
Who knew there was some kind of top secret junk yard right behind Cafe Sabor? A junk yard so secret and important that it was being guarded by two doberman demons. If you aren't a praying person, have a doberman run at you with nothing but a suitcase to shield you from those teeth of fury. Then I bet you offer up some type of a prayer. Unless you are like our photographer who just turned and tried to make friends with the dog, of course.

Any ways, we had quite the adventure getting pictures taken. It was a fun filled evening for sure. Now I can't wait for bridals and groomals to be taken (Brian thought I made up that they were groomals as an insult or something). The fun just doesn't stop!

Oh, and to add to the adventure, we ended our fun evening with dinner at Olive Garden. Where I awkwardly locked the keys in the van. We got them out luckily, pretty easily. Plus, I think I deserve a reward since I hadn't done that for almost a solid year. My freshman year of college, I basically had made friends with the campus police thanks to the many times I succeeded at locking myself out of my vehicle.

And just to let you know how much we love taking pictures, here's one for you to enjoy from last weekend after being good church-going children: