Summer Soiree

I have been looking for an excuse to throw a fun little outdoor party all summer and finally decided to just do it before the weather wouldn't allow it. (Loren's parents graciously let us use their backyard and take over their kitchen). It was the perfect night with good friends, food, and atmosphere, the only thing missing was the Hacketts :(

the set up

place cards

a mix of Ginger Ale, Perrier, pickle and olive jars for our flower vases (I save any cute bottle or jar and use them for vases all the time)

tissue pom-poms (homemade), string lights from Target

baby food jar tea light lanterns I made last year

some of the boys playing bocce ball

the girls: me (in a skirt I made this summer), Emily, Courtnie, Kristin, Cami, and Amy

the boys: Tad, Loren, Jake, Hans, Jeff and Brad

the whole gang

a perfect evening!

(hopefully an annual happening)

On the menu was: lemon pasta, green salad (thanks Rossis), corn on the cob (thanks Hubrichs), cheesy bread sticks (thanks Hopkins), Grandpa Shaw's orange mint punch, and apple crisp with vanilla ice cream for dessert (thanks Cannons).

Also, someone decided it would be a good idea to recreate this awkward family picture.

I don't really have any words for this.

Try not to be jealous...

of my ridiculously huge camera.

I guess I should have checked the dimensions while I was ordering it because I was not expecting to pull this out of the box! I think I laughed for 20 minutes. I knew it would have to be big enough to spit these out, I just underestimated it's hugeness. A friend said I would pretty much be walking around with a printer hanging off my neck :)

It is a fun camera though, here are some pictures I took with it in California a few weeks ago.

Merry Christmas

I know this is a little late, but how could I resist this gem of a picture I found of my dad while visiting for Christmas. Love it. Love him.

There is not enough that can be said about being surrounded by family and friends. We love them all and are very blessed to have them in our lives.

Hope you had a Merry one, we sure did.

Tuscany

It was so much fun to have my mom with me for the week in Tuscany! We had such a great time. We stayed at a 1,700 acre working farmhouse, the food was amazing. The countryside was beautiful but I was a little disappointed that they had just tilled all of the fields, so we weren't able to see as many rolling green Tuscan hillsides. It was still amazing though, I think my mom caught the travel bug on this trip...who could blame her :)


Me in Florence


San Gimignano from afar


Me and my mom




a little church I can't remember the name of


Tuscan sunrise


Cathedral in Siena


tower on the Piazza del Campo in Siena (we climbed to the top!)


starting the climb up the tower


the stairway


view from the top!


Cyprus trees at dawn at the farmhouse


tree on a hill at the farmhouse


me and my mom

Can't believe it's over already

So, my boss does photography workshops in Italy every year and I was lucky enough to get to go and help out with it this year. We were there for two weeks, one week on the Italian Riviera two days in Florence and a second week in Tuscany. Loren spent the first week with me and my mom came over for the second week. We had a blast getting to know new people and visiting different cities every day. We would do short photography classes in the morning and then spend the rest of the day traveling to surrounding areas seeing little villages, monasteries, beaches. Here are some pictures from the first week. I'll post more from the second week later to split it up.


view from our hotel in Camogli


eating gelato


at the port in Camogli waiting for a boat


the beach at San Fruttuoso Monastary


swimming in the mediterranean on the Cinque Terre


one of the towns on the Cinque Terre


umbrellas on the beach


more umbrellas, love them


another view of the Cinque Terre


pretty clouds and ocean


Vernazza at night


pier at Portofino


Portofino boat


at the lighthouse in Portofino

more pictures to come from Tuscany, Ciao!