Its hard to believe...

...it has been a year since everyone made the trek to the Point Reyes National Seashore. Ashley and I were just eating a piece of one year old frozen cake (it was actually from the Wisconsin reception, and it actually was still SO GOOD) and going through pictures, and I decided to post a few:

While I LOVED the wedding day and have such awesome memories from it, the rehearsal picnic was also one of my most favorite days ever:

There are SO many awesome photos from this, its too hard to pick a few good ones....

I still can't believe what awesome weather we had for the actual wedding day. Again, way too many photos to choose from, and Blogger takes so so so long to upload them (especially because most are pretty big files). Thanks again to everyone - such a wonderful weekend....

Summer since our WI trip and Hood to Coast....

Here are a few random pictures of what we've been up to since the Wisconsin trip and my Hood to Coast weekend. I have been really busy with work and these last weeks have flown by - its hard to remember what random things we've been up to, so its actually kind of nice to keep track by organizing my thoughts (and photos) for a post....

Ashley with Doug's old chainsaw. We cut down a big dogwood in the front yard... (and when I say "we" I mean Ashley :)

We went for a hike Labor Day weekend in the Gifford Pinchot Nat'l Forest in Washington. You can really see the haze from forest fires just above the treeline in the way back of this photo...

On the way to the top. A gorgeous day...

A neat arch the trail goes through on the way...

Ashley finished fixing up and sold his 1968 Cutlass! It went to a good home (and the proceeds will go towards the long list of house projects...)

We listed two Japanese maples from our front yard for sale on craigslist. A couple from nearby bought them and came and dug them out. They are now in their front yard not too far from us!

We had a weeknight dinner at our house to catch up with some friends - here are all the girls, including Carmen (I'm sure the boys were playing pool in the basement...)

This weekend we are headed to Pendleton, a town in central Oregon for the Pendleton Round up - one of the biggest rodeos in the country. I'm sure we'll have photos from that to post as well. Can't wait to see what everyone else has been up to! XO

Wisconsin Trip - part two

We headed down to Pewaukee for week two of our trip and got to spend lots of good time with Mom and Charlie - golfing, museuming, hanging out at Jack's garden. Lots of fun pictures! And more to come... This trip may end up being a three-post trip!

Mom and Susanne at Museum

Mom and a Chihuly

Lunch at the museum

Love this photo!

Mom, me and Susanne at museum

Ashley and Fritz at Bill's

Me and Grandma at Bill's

Action shots of the three golfers

Charlie, Mom, Fritz and Susanne in Pewaukee right before Fritz and Susanne's train left for Chicago

Waiting for their train! We were sad to see them go but they had a fun train ride ahead of them (even if it did eventually reach CA VERY late...)

Mom and Emily goofing around in the kitchen

A summer game of backyard whiffle ball at Mom's

Leo - such a good sport :)

Ashley gets to play with more of Matt's toys : ) His first time driving a Harley!

So much fun! And there are so many other good photos. I'll post more soon... I'm so happy we got to spend so much good time with everyone. THANK YOU again to everyone for hosting us all for so long!

An awesome August

Our big summer trip this year was our two weeks in Wisconsin with both our families. We are so so so grateful we got to spend this time with everyone. We had lots of relax and play time with everyone - lots of sun, water, food, wine, beer and just fun hanging out. THANK YOU to everyone for being such wonderful hosts and to Fritz and Susanne for making the big trek! 

This first post is photos from the first part of our trip up North. I'll do a separate post with photos from our southern Wisconsin leg of our trip : )

It started with dinner in Portland during Fritz and Susanne's train stop in Portland.

Made it to Wisconsin and headed up North the next day. Stopped at Paul Bunyan's on the way up.

Made it from Portland and Los Altos to Presque Isle lake. A peaceful evening on the lake!

We drank lots great wine and ate great food (Ashley's crawfish boil in the background).

Almost the whole group for the first part of the week. Fritz and Jean are ready to head out to fish for the day.

We got to spend lots of good time with the kiddos the second part of the week. Macy's adorable bum in her swimsuit was killing me! I think that is Morgan tubing behind the boat.

Grandpa and Emily in the canoe. Matt? in the kayak.

 

Ashley got some play time at Heather and Matt's cabin

A big group!

Brooke's 7!!

 While the weather was cold and rainy, it was warm and happy inside while we celebrated Brooke's 7th Birthday with family and friends.  Since Brooke wanted to go out on the boat and it rained Saturday, we went out on Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee River on Sunday.  Here are pictures of the weekend...

Her "theme" was Fancy Nancy, hence the fancy crown cake

She LOVED her decorate-your-own headbands...

...and her fancy sparkly jeans

She couldn't wait to get her fancy outfit and boots on.
(Do you think the girl likes clothes?  Are you recognizing a theme?)

Mana and Papa surprised her and came dressed for the theme.
Mana had on a tiara and chandelier earrings, and papa put on a tie with his shorts - LOL...

...But I think Great Grandma Ginny stole the show with her $5 sequined gold pants!
She was waiting for a reason to wear them;)

Emily did a great job with the entertainment.  So glad she, Debbie, and Matt could come.

I had to take a picture of her one last time on the big day.

Milwaukee from the Marina

The Hone Bridge on our way into the River.

The sun finally came out right before we got off the water.

Morgan with buddy Tessa

Oh yea, did I tell you the boat got stuck on a huge chunk of cement near the end of the river by the dam?
OMG totally gross - Matt had to get down to his underwear and literally push us off of it!
If I wasn't mistaken, you'd think this was a day with Dad (Grandpa Gillette- ha!)

We spent Monday morning (Labor Day) decorating her new headbands.
"Ooo La La", as Fancy Nancy would say