Open the Door!

Last week, I did an architectural shoot of a home that has spent a little more than the last year being remodeled. Well, really - rebuilt. It is now an absolutely stunning and architecturally intelligent home. I loved it!

One of the special details they focused on was to save a number of the old doors in the home. Here you have this all new house, but still many old touches are there to remind you of the old home.

Gets me thinking about life and how we can truly always start over in our lives, rebuild our lives, remake it into what you want it to be, heck, even do just a little remodel of what's around us. I have had the joy of a new start in my life this year, and I am so grateful for the old hardware that's stuck around - family, old friends, faith, my work ethic.

A sweet friend of mine sent me a sign for my birthday. It reads, "Never get too busy making a living that you forget to make a life." She said she bought it for me sometime last winter when I was so busy making a living that my life was being crippled. Now, while I enjoy making a life, I am truly thankful for the new door that stood in front of me this spring. The door knob may have looked old and rusty, but the joy on the other side of the door has radically changed my life for the better.

May you also recognize when a new beginning is before you, may you choose to swing that door open wide, and may you soak up the joy of a that new season in your life.

Birthday Boy!

Although today is my birthday, it's time I shared what we did for J's birthday... we had a crab feed. Not just any crab feed, an all-you-can-eat-till-you-are-sick-to-yer-stomach crab feed!

J decided he wanted a small dinner party with some of his close friends, and an all you can eat good time! We ended up with 14 people and 25 pounds of crab!

The places were set with a seafood cracker as a gift for each person...


Butchy made the most scrumptious Olathe Sweet Corn paprika/chili powder Coblets. YUM!

It's not often you get to see 25 pounds of king crab legs! This is Casey taking a closer look.

We had to cook them in a Turkey Fryer, OF COURSE! What else can fit that much crab?? We cooked in batches of about 5 pounds each, and delivered rounds of fresh outta the pot crab every 20 minutes or so. Thanks Gray for the Turkey Fryer!

With 25 pounds of crab comes 7 pounds of butter! Gray spent a couple days clarifying the butter so it would be ever so perfect for our evening. It looked good, but not so good that I'd take a bite out of it!

We lined up three tables through our living room & dining room so we could all sit at one long table, which makes for lottts more fun! Thanks Christen for the picture - I was not getting up from the table as my butter-coma had already kicked in!

I love how each end of the table in this pic has a gun show going on!

Christen baked JJ a wheatless chocolate cake that was like eating the inside of a truffle - mmm mmm good!! I loovvveeedd the little J stencils on the top!

To say he was happy would be an understatement!

He had to proceed to give a speech about how much he loves his friends and how much they mean to him and yadda yadda love yadda. This is him toasting everyone with the cake - oh yes he did!

Happy Birthday! Here's to the big 3-5!

Tiffany!

Tiffany is such a fun person! She has experienced a lot in this life and of this world, and laughed her way through it. She has a contagious laugh. It's the kind of laugh that comes from yer guts and travels for miles! It cracks me up and I laugh louder and harder with her than just about any person on this planet.
We had a blast taking pictures, and it's all I can do not to post 101 pictures of her brilliant laugh! (Turns out - she's pretty nice to look at without the laugh, too!)

Wedding Love!

Joe & Kendra's wedding was on the 4th of July. On a cruise ship. In the Seattle Harbor. Does it get any more fun?!

It was the most terrific day, filled with love, laughter and close friends. There are too many pictures to post here, so I'll keep it to the tiny details in this post.

Enjoy!

Beautiful little details from Kendra's Dress:



DA Rings!

It WAS a cruise ship, flip flops were the REQUIRED wedding shoes!

So pretty!

Tantalizing little candy dishes! I didn't take mine with me. BOO. I was craving those little jelly beans and hearts for the rest of the afternoon!!

Kendra's nieces were her flower girls. They had matching tights and shoes on. ADORABLE!

Tree Graveyard

Hi Blog-Reading Friends! (If you weren't before, you are now!)

I've been travelling for the last month back and forth to Seattle every Monday - Thursday. It was worth it, but soaked up all my time to be writing creative things and showing you new pictures! Grrrrrr... I don' lika whena maya creativa buga isa squashada! SO, I'm BACK! Ha! Take that creative-bug-squashers!

Almost every weekend this Summer has been spent up at the property fishing, fishing, playing gin rummy, and more fishing. After four years of fishing the same river, we found something NEW! Well, not new to the river, just new to us. A TREE GRAVEYARD! What? I know, sounds odd, but it really is just that!

The water was really high in early Summer, which made for some fishing off the beaten path. Look at what we stumbled upon! In the midst of pine tree after pine tree, you can see about 25 dead tree tops poking up! When we got to the middle of them, we realized that almost all their trunks were in standing water. We're thinking that must be the reason they died? Maybe they were in too much water? Regardless, they are truly breathtaking to behold: