I'm back!

Seriously! Where have I been!? I'm so sorry I blog so little. My goal was to blog once a week and obviously I have failed! To be honest there is alot going on that I just can't blog about because it involves other people.... :) Maybe one day I'll be able to share all of that! I have been learning so much through "that" which makes it hard to blog about because it would mean beating around the bush, maybe not telling the whole story and isn't a story so much better when you get all the pieces of the puzzle!? But it has kept me from writing and that is not ok! My journal is overflowing! And God has been transforming and working on my heart so much I've come to the point where how can I not share, God has been amazing and that's definitely share worthy. So I'm just going to write what I can and hope it's a blessing to your lives:)

But where have we been the last month!?

Jake started soccer! My cousin coaches him and he has a few friends on his team so he likes to go, but I think I might have a piano player or an intellectual instead of a sports fanatic! And that's ok, it's totally his dad in him. He is super excited to go but couldn't really care about playing, he'll do it but he's not into it at all! Tonight my cousin told him he had to kick the ball three times before he was alowd off the field bc he was asking to get off. So he did it right away and he did it well! That's what drives me crazy, he's super good at sports when he trys but if he doesn't care about something he won't give it anything. The opposite is true as well, if he loves it he'll work so hard at it.

 I went on a short road trip over mothers day weekend for a friends baby shower with a few girls! It was a ton of fun, entirely a refreshing time:) (aside from getting lost ha)

 We took an awesome trip to Portland, I miss the people so much there. But I know my heart is forever tied to a few good friends there and that bond will never fade.  I thrive on relationships, not in the obsessive friend kind of way, but because they teach you so much about yourself as well as the other person and although they can be trying at times they can help shape and mold you into a more beautiful person. Sure the opposite can happen and they can make you worse, but really isn't that all in the choices you make? We also got to see prestons sister Ali graduate from college! And see his family as well:) It's always nice to see them!

This is my cousin Laurel, her little girl Galilee:), me and my friendly little monster out for brunch!

Good friends!!!

 After I got home Sophie came up to visit from Portland! She is 15, and I used to mentor her. We are super close to her family and it just worked nicely for her to come up! We had a great time, and even got to go to a Switchfoot concert. However, I think she was a little disappointed i wasn't mosh pit material anymore.... I told her I once was, but somehow rubbing up against sweaty bodies just isn't appealing anymore!

I got to reconnect with Amanda in Seattle!!! She is my sweet angel who helped me the night Preston died. But that in itself deserves an entire blog. It was emotional seeing her again, not that I cried my eyes out, but we talked about the night of the accident and then an hour later I  had to drive past the scene of it with our words fresh in the air. I am so thankful for her:)

 We stopped in Victoria to see family, and my favorite moment as a family was reading bedtime stories on the beach, eating snacks out of tin pails, seeing how excited they were brought me the most joy!

 Seeing our cousins on the island! (too bad Lauren you can't untag yourself here;)

Oh yes, here is Switchfoot!

And I had a birthday! It really wasn't a huge deal this year, the last two years my friends and family put on big parties for me and it was amazing! This year I wanted something low key because honestly I didn't think i deserved another party. Last year I had three surprise parties, so I didn't want to force anyone to try and top those ha ha! Ever since Preston died life has been alot about others caring for me, which I needed, but I'm so much more able on my own now and I would way rather pour into other people. So we just had a small family dinner and a girls night!

Well it's getting too late to even remember what else happened! So now that I've updated ya'll (I still love that word even though ppl make fun of me up here for saying it). I'll try super hard to update more often!