Weeks 24-28

As you can tell, I have been a little preoccupied with other things besides blogging the last few weeks.  As you can also tell, I have been taking plenty of pictures during that time!  I am still doing the photography challenge and now I can give you the ones that I missed!

Week 24 - Enchanted

Week 25 - Light

Week 26 - Forgotten

Week 27 - Journey

Week 28 - Take Flight

The Wild West

Remember how I told you I would post the rest of my pictures soon.  Well, I lied.  Working really gets in the way of everything else.

Yes, you read that right, I am now working - well for one more week, then I go on Safari!!!  I didn't want to get to too overwhelmed, you know :)  Yesterday, Austin and I spent the majority of the day in Target getting the last of the stuff that I need for Kenya.  You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find clothing that is not bright or white.

Anyway while I was at home, I went to Gage's graduation (Austin's brother) and his graduation party.  It was a pretty standard high school graduation, but it felt weird to see Gage finished with high school!  I first met him when he was only 12 years old and since I am the youngest in my family, I've never experienced that before :)

Other than that, I went for a walk on one of the trails by my house and took some pictures:

Then on Saturday afternoon Austin, his grandpa, his dad, my dad, and I went out to Echo Canyon to go shootin'!  I shot 5 pigeons this time and I got to fire a muzzle loader!

Other than it being too short of a weekend, it was pretty perfect :)

Week 23 - Colors

Isn't it easy to find beauty in the mountains!  These are some pictures I took this weekend while I was home...more will follow soon!

a recap of last week

Last week my Mom came to visit!  By far the hardest part of living on the East Coast is being so far away from family, so it was so nice to have my mom here.

Unfortunately, we saw everything there is to see so she has no reason to come back.

Week 22 - Separate

I want to share a lesson with you today.  It's a simple one: Floss!  Everyday.  Even when you're camping or tired or drunk.

A while back one of my teeth chipped and when I was home last, I went to the dentist and ended up needing not one, but TWO root canals!

Well, Thursday I finally got my crowns put on and let me tell you, it feels so good to have something that resembles a real tooth back there :)

Now that we've had our lesson, I will share my week 22 picture picture with you.  My new DC dentist gave me the mold that my crowns came on, which was definitely the best part of this monthlong process and yes, I do have very pointy, vampire teeth.  Thanks for noticing ;)

The Beehive State

Austin and I are going home tomorrow and we couldn't be more excited!

One major benefit: it's not going to be so deathly hot.  It's not going to look like this:

...but it's not going to be hot either.  (Although I think it has looked like that just up until a couple of weeks ago.)

It should look a little more like this - without the fall colors :)

We are going to cram in a graduation, a graduation party, an anniversary party, and maybe if there is time in the three days that we are there, we might even get to shoot some skeet, go for a hike, and breathe some cool, fresh, mountain air!

Cassidy's Baby Shower

      

Last Sunday my cousin had her surprise baby shower.  There were a ton of people for a shower, and even more onesies (at least 100)!

The food was delicious and the cake even better!

The families put together great decorations, and games that did not include eating anything out of a diaper :)

Don't ask me what the egg chair is for, I don't know that tradition :)

      

Mostly, it was just great to see family again - I can't wait to meet Braden Lattari!

Looking In

Week 21's theme was "looking in" or "person/people - no faces" so I guess this picture fits either theme.  Technically I didn't take this picture as you can tell since I'm the one in the picture, but my mom did while she was visiting us.

And for the observant reader, you will notice that I skipped week 20 (theme was self-portrait).  I'll get to it I'm sure.

Happy Late Memorial Day

This Memorial Day I remembered how nice it is to breath fresh air and see the stars.

Weeks 18 and 19

When I went home, I basically forgot about my "Paint the Moon; Let's do 52 Challenge."  I was still taking pictures the whole time, they just weren't exactly directed at the themes.  Anyway, here are two of the weeks that I missed.  I am still a week behind but I'll get there :)

                  Week 18 - Mother/Story                                                   Week 19 - A Slice of Everyday Life

New River Gorge

Right after I got off the plane from Utah, Austin picked me up and we headed back west.  West Virginia that is.  We spent the weekend at the New River Gorge climbing and camping.  It was a completely different landscape than the areas that we are used to climbing in but it was beautiful in its own right.

why it was so hard to leave

After a great week at home...it was hard to come back to DC.  Here's why:

Those blue skies, jagged mountains, and fresh air have been calling to me since we got here!

Week 17 - "In Motion"

Week 16 - Refreshing

Week 14 - Chaos

Here is a "two-fer" post for you.  A little preview of our weekend while Austin's family is in town and my photography challenge photo.  The theme was chaos and we went to the Japanese street festival on Saturday...in a word: chaotic.  

But I'll explain more of that later.  For now, you just get to see for yourself!

more from last weekend

I forgot to upload these pictures from my other camera, which means that I also forgot what else we did last weekend (besides the fireworks and baseball game).  Now I remember that I made a delicious loaf of bread with my parents' bread-maker that they gave me when we moved.







On Saturday (since it was hailing and raining and windy) we went downtown to get our library cards and then we went to a little cafe, called Busboys and Poets that has cool art on the walls and poetry readings and other hipster stuff like that, so all the kids can go there and do ironic things.  All that being said, Austin and I like it there quite a bit.

On the walk home, we stopped to take some pictures of the beautiful Magnolia trees and the sunset over the mall.

Week 13 - Connect

I got a little behind with my photography assignment this week but here it is!  The theme for the week was "connect" and this picture was taken in front of some government building (as if every building in this city isn't a government building) near Chinatown.  Enjoy!

Cherry Blossom Festival

The time has finally come!  The cherry blossoms are at full bloom!  When we decided we were going to move to DC, everyone asked us what we liked to do, feeling pretty confident that anything that we could come up with, this city could offer.  Once we said, "we like to hike, climb, camp, and generally do things outside."  The person we were talking to would say, "well, the cherry blossom festival is really beautiful!"  I'm not quite sure they understood that the reason we like those things is that you get to be away from people and civilization for a while and just be surrounded by nature.  Oh well, the trees really are beautiful. Everyone else thought so too!

This is the best picture one can expect when they hand their camera to a stranger.  I especially like the composition with a spear coming out of the top of my head! :)

Austin and I walked around the tidal basin last night because Austin heard on the radio that yesterday was the day!  The city hires some sort of cherry blossom specialist that literally has this whole thing down to a science, so we can all know when's the best time.

The festival isn't just about walking around the Tidal Basin and the monuments, there are also tons of events going on.  The most popular ones are the Japanese street festival and the cherry blossom parade.  For more information go to the festival's site.

There were a lot of people...surprisingly respectful of people wanting to get their pictures taken with the blossoms in the background though.

I don't understand the beaver...is it because beavers cut down trees?

Austin's family is going to be here in time for the parade so we'll definitely have to go to that with them!  (p.s. I can't wait to have some visitors!)