Eight hundred forty six.

My weekend away in St. Louis was really great. Marty was an awesome host... we had so much fun while he showed me around the place he calls home.

I flew in on Thursday night. He was standing at the door waiting and it was really special to see his face again.

On Friday, Marty had to go to school to give his students the beloved tests, so I tagged along. It was neat to get to meet his students (they were pretty excited that I was there... they referred to me as "the girl in the pictures") and to talk to a few teachers who he thinks highly of. Parkway Central is a big school and so Marty gave me the grand-abbreviated tour during one of his off periods.

On Friday afternoon, we played. We ran through a historical park, dove into the freezing cold pool, played croquet with his parents, and enjoyed dinner and conversation with them until dark.

Saturday was a busy (but oh-so-fun) day. After a lazy morning, we headed into St. Louis where we went to the zoo and the art museum. The art museum was a neat experience... a few years ago, I took an African Art History class and I saw a few of the pieces in the museum that I had seen in my text book. After those two little adventures, we went sailing at Creve Couer Park where Marty taught me a few of the sailing basics. I'm ready for more sailing... as long as he's in the boat!

After sailing, my belated-birthday celebration began. It was honestly the sweetest thing anyone has done for me... so much thought in who I am and how we'd want to spend our time together. It included a saunter and some wine... and that's all I'm going to say.

On Sunday, I got a taste of the church that the Lessmanns are so involved in. They go to Trinity Lutheran Church and all three of them sing in the choir. Even though the song they sang wasn't Marty's favorite, it was still so fun to hear them sing.

Marty and I ended the weekend with a nice walk through the neighborhood. It's so special to me that we can do just about anything and truly enjoy it because it's about the time we're spending together. Sappy, I know...

Being together last weekend was special. We're learning so much about each other and enjoying all different aspects of our relationship. We're also learning that according to the world's standards, we're very different... and we like that.

Marty is headed back to Colorado in a week for my best friend's wedding. We're going up to Camp Timberline (where it all began) for the weekend. I can't wait! I'll definitely be posting a ton of pictures and stories about Jill and Zach and all of the festivities...

i don't even know this little guy, but seeing him that close to a monkey was a neat thing

my man at the zoo

art museum...

frank lloyd wright... no big...

this piece made a big statment

do tell... do you think this is a photo or a painting?

saunter

so happy together!

One more day...

...until I board a plane to the 'Lou.

Marty has a lot of things up his sleeve, so I've decided to not ask any questions. Apparently Saturday night includes dinner and wine and a live band, all while seated 500 feet above the Missouri River Valley. Well, well Mr. Lessmann... you sure know how to treat a lady right!

last summer at camp timberline... an oldie but goodie!

A Wedding on the Lake

I'm finally finding some time to post pictures and stories from my long weekend in Holland, Michigan. The highlight of the trip was definitely Aaron and Sarah's beautiful wedding (the whole reason we went out there), but it was really fun to show my friends around Holland and to have a few chances to play outside.

We left on Wednesday night at 7 and booked it to Michigan. We only stopped for gas... and one Starbucks stop in Iowa. Driving through the night wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. And driving with 5 people in my CR-V wasn't as bad as we expected, either. We laughed a lot, rocked out to Dan's awesome iPod playlist (including Michael Jackson and Seal), played 'get to know you' games and tried to sleep as we could. Not much sleeping happened that night and so Thursday night in Holland was brutal.

While in Holland, we visited with my grandparents and also hung out with another camp friend named Jess. She got a kick out of playing hostess for the weekend -- we went kayaking and boogie boarding (yep - in Lake Michigan - the waves were huge!), out for dinner, played games, and walked around the Holland farmer's market.

The wedding was on Saturday afternoon. It was a great wedding! Both the wedding and reception were at Sarah's grandparents' house in Grand Haven. They live on a hill right next to the lake, so the views from where the ceremony was held were breathtaking. It had rained all day in Grand Haven, but as the bridesmaids started walking down the aisle, the sun came out and it ended up being perfect weather for a party.

Bill and Dana Darrough, the founders and owners of Camp Timberline, also came to the wedding. They were fun wedding guests and it was great to share a table with them! The reception was under a tent in the front yard. Dinner was amazing... tapas! It was a fun night.

I'm glad we went. I know it meant a lot to Aaron and Sarah and the trip was a nice little vacation to end the summer well.

I took a ton of pictures. Most of them are on facebook. Click this link if you'd like to see all of them. Here are some of my favorites*...

and we're off!

a little picnic before kayaking

the kayaking crew! 4 boats... 5 people... can you guess who flipped?

farmers market flowers for my grandma. dahlias may be my new favorites!

dan brass. great guy!

my friend jess... we were in the same small group all summer last year at camp!

all set for the festivities. thanks for having us over, grandpa & grandma!

all the kids

dan, dana and bill before the ceremony

amazing setting for a wedding!

aaron and sarah making their vows

the crawfords - i love that they took pictures with their lucy dog!

camp timberline love in michigan. how fun!

i didn't actually do it. thought about it, though...

glad i was there!

dana and bill... a great couple!

sarah: "we don't know what we're doing"
aaron: "keep touching!"

the men of camp timberline

best. picture. ever.

the wedding was up under the white tent

what a sweet friend!

oh how excited we were to see that sign... the trip home was tooooo long!

*I'm terrible at narrowing them down... I should've just made a slideshow... :)

Road trip 09... The starting lineup...

Tomorrow night I'm driving to Michigan with these crazy people...

To see these crazy people get married...

And we're staying with these crazy people...

We're leaving Colorado at 7 p.m on Wednesday, driving through the night, hanging out in Holland for a few days, watching the nuptials of Aaron and Sarah, and driving home on Sunday.

5 people in the car for 36 hours... I'm sure I'll have plenty of stories to tell!

Oh, sweet Seattle...

i had an amazing weekend.

One of my very best friends is going to school in Seattle, so I got to go visit her and see all of the sights. I fell in love with the city.

::friday::
Friday morning was spent full of good conversations and good coffee. We were in Seattle, we had to. We walked around a big lake and talked about life, our men, memories, faith, future stuff...

Seattle has a bunch of cute "towns" around the big city. Em lives in Wallingford. Her boyfriend lives in Ballard. The really expensive boutiques are in Fremont. We window shopped because quite frankly, a $300 shirt is ridiculous.

Fremont also has a great little chocolate factory called Theo Chocolate. Yum. It's organic, pure, creative chocolate (Chai Chocolate... Bread & Chocolate... Coconut Curry Chocolate...). I was a kid in a candy shop... literally... walking around, sampling the different flavors. I brought some home for my mom.

After browsing shops, we met up with Emily's boyfriend for lunch. Best sandwich ever... We ate on the beach and enjoyed the Seattle sunshine (I know, crazy!). Matt dropped his sandwich in the sand. A little dog came and ate the lettuce - its owner wasn't amused. Emily knows all of the fun parks, so we walked around an old park called Gas Works. She also showed me a huge troll. Yes, a troll under a bridge.

On Friday night, we headed downtown and met up with a guy I worked with at camp, Barrett Caldwell. Barrett is a southern boy working for the Coast Guard and living smack dab on 1st Avenue. It was fun to meet his roommates and to reminisce about a summer up in the mountains.

::saturday::
After a lazy morning, Emily and I headed to the University Village -- near the University of Washington -- to go to Anthropologie and H&M. I got a fun gray coat!

After the U Village, we went downtown to go to Pike Place Market. I would love living in a city with a fun open-aired market like this one. I couldn't help but soak in all of the different things there were to see... I was such a tourist, taking pictures, not watching where I was walking. It was great. I wish I lived in a place with a market. It's such a neat thing to be able to go there and grab everything. In fact, it's kind of a lifestyle -- one that's appealing to me.

On Saturday night, we headed to a little restaurant in Ballard called The Root Table. Wow, that was a neat place to eat dinner! All of the tables were roots (hence the name) and you sat on stumps. The atmosphere was artsy, laid back, and exotic. After dinner, I got to catch up with my 2nd cousin, Rebekah. I hadn't seen her since 2005 so we had much needed time together.

::sunday::
After church and eating lunch at the Ballard Farmer's Market, I headed home. A great weekend!

I took a ton of pictures...

walking around green lake with coffee in hand and best friend at side...

modern day willy wonka... organic and fair trade... and delicious

on the menu for lunch on friday... amazingness in sandwich form

our picnic spot. really? could it get any better?

great friend

yep, a giant troll

looking down troll street (avenue? lane? i don't know)

the needle

i love the fact that there's water all over the place out there!

downtown. and boats. awesome.

barrett & his football trophy from earlier that day.
you know what they say about the camp t family...

barrett's roommate, adam. a good ol' southern boy with his clemson hat and banjo...

seattle-style serenade.

::the market::

i brought some pasta home with $5 i found on the ground...

i'm working on that coffee drinking goal.

one of these things is not like the other...

great little restaurant with wooden menus.

this is my "i see you every five years" cousin... we should fix that problem.

ballard farmers market quesadillas

washington apples!

I'll be booking another ticket again soon.