Last weekend we went to Minnesota for the commitment ceremony of my friends Becky and Jenna. Here’s a few photos leading up to the wedding:
We all met at the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis for some photos. It’s a really beautiful location – I can’t wait to see the professional photographer’s photos.
Ben and I met 7 years ago in Colorado. At one point during our giddy ‘get to know each other’ phase, we had an e-mail conversation about things that made us happy. Here’s our lists, feel free to join in.
Things that make Alonna happy (Summer 2001)
Things that make Ben happy (Summer 2001)
Happy Anniversary Ben, I love you!
My best friend Becky and partner Jenna are tying the knot! To help them celebrate, we had a BBQ bash with the girls on Saturday night and a shower with friends and family on Sunday. Here’s a few photos from the shower.
Today Ben and I went on a bike ride. We attempted to go “early” (10:30am) to avoid the heat, but it still felt like we were biking in a sauna. The high today was 96 degrees – it seems a little early for it to be this hot in Boise (the high tomorrow is 102!). But still, you can’t beat the clear blue sky which we see most of the year. And the biking was still fun – we just took more breaks to enjoy the view…
This Spring Ben and I are fixing up the house and yard. Since we’re trying to move closer to work (Eagle area), we’re planning on either selling or renting out this current house. But there is a decent amount of maintenance that we’ve been opting-out of for the past few years. If you haven’t already learned this lesson – it turns out that if you put off yard work for 3 years, it’s MUCH harder to get it back under control. Especially when it involves rapidly spreading vines…
Here’s a photo from last year of the front of our house. Notice the vines crawling up near the front door – they extend all the way around that nook on the side of the garage.
We cut out all of the vines, dug up an old tree stump, and painstakingly pulled all the vines off of the side of the house, sanded what they left behind, and painted. We also painted the front door, put in an azalea plant and woodchips. Here’s some photos:
We also added knobs and drawer handles in the kitchen:
And here’s a couple random photos – Ben planting peppers in the garden, and a praying mantis we found on our house:
I have to say I do enjoy winning 🙂 Last night I won another 1st place victory – this time in a Volleyball Tournament. The tournament was organized by some volleyball players at HP. It’s played on the grass with four people on a team. We played on Wednesday nights for three weeks in a row, and it just finished last night. It was a lot of fun, here’s a photo of the entire group (32 players).
(I’m in the front row, middle-left, light blue shirt)
Last weekend I played in a soccer tournament in Boise. My team is the Royal Bombers and we’ve been playing together for about 4 years. We play outdoor soccer in the Fall and Spring, and indoor soccer during the winter. We’re in Division 1 of the Southern Idaho Soccer League (there are 3 divisions, we’re in the middle but are moving up next year). The playoffs for our division ended in a 3-way tie, so to make it to the championship game we had to do a 3-way shoot-out (penalty kicks). We had 6 people take penalty kicks before we won the shoot-out, and I was one of them – and I made it! Then we went on to win the division title in the championship game. It was a fun weekend, but 4 games in 2 days is completely exhausting!
For the past four or five years, a group of friends at work have gone on weekly mountain bike rides in the summer, usually followed by beer and pizza. Here’s a photo from last week’s bike ride; we did the Corrals trail with a pretty large group.
After a full day of traveling, Ben and I are back home safe and sound. Our trip was so much fun, but as always, it’s nice to be home.
Things I like about coming home:
Things I dislike about coming home:
Happy travels,
Alonna
