Summer o' Bridesmaids

Since our wedding was on my mind... (clickHERE to see Joel's famous photos) I think this summer I set a record of seeing all of my bridesmaids! This is impressive, since they live in 4 different states! The seven gals (plus Mallory, my I-wish-I-could-adopt-her-as-a-little-sister junior bridesmaid) are all women I treasure for different reasons, and for what they add to my life. It is interesting to think that in just 3 short years: 6 babies have been born to them (Jackson, Riese, Judah and Elise, Ainsley and Audrey), 1 has gotten engaged, 4 have moved across the country or world, 5 have bought/renovated a house or condo; and remarkably ALL of them have found a career they like. Big life investments!! I am so grateful that this year has provided us the opportunity to see them all in WA, CA, FL, and SC. I also got to see Hanna, who read scripture in our wedding in LA this August. She is so special to me, and she got married on Los' birthday! She just went to Hawai'i for her honeymoon.

Come to think of it, Los has seen almost all his wedding party too! This summer Ian and his wife and their new son came up here to the Rasar's Guemes Island cabin. We spent a night in July with them and the Zentler's, something that I hope becomes a tradition. We also got to see the Worley's (Jay was a groomsman and wrote/performed a song for us, and their daughter was a flowergirl) in D.C. this year. AND, very exciting news, JR, who was a groomsman (his daughter Mackenzie was a flowergirl) is being restationed (from Japan) in Texas this fall. So we'll be neighbors with them and their now 4 children (they're adopting 2 boys from Poland). Dave, who Los wanted to have as a groomsman, but was stationed in Spain, will also be our new neighbor in TX, so we are looking forward to the new season with them. I guess my brother (SAD) is the only member of our wedding party that we haven't seen this year! Hopefully in the future he will be more a part of our life. It is a bit challenging for now, since he lives in the Netherlands and is shortly moving to Australia!

In any case, we feel blessed to have such good friends everywhere we go. This season has been sweet in WA, and we are glad we got married at the beginning of our life here. Now on to new adventures and expanding our family in TX we will go, taking these memories with us!