25 big ones!

We are off to P-town to celebrate Paul's 25th birthday. His actual birthday is tomorrow, the 11th, but he and some friends are riding in a century to celebrate on Sunday and didn't want to be up too late the night before. With Ping Pong, Scrabble, Phase 10, friends and a pony (?) it is guaranteed to be a good time!

Well I am off to meet a friend in Salem, hopefully to get a warm cup of coffee (for the next nine months I will be nothing but cold...did I mention that I love summer?).

Open House

My school Open House is this Thursday night (bummer to have a Beaver game on the same night...now we can't go!). School has been so amazingly wonderful. Some times, at the end of a hectic and tiring day, I sit and think about how blessed I am to have a career that I love every day coming to.

I went to a wonderful presentation tonight on children's books at Grassroots in Corvallis. I love children's literature and learning about what new books authors have coming out and what new authors there are. Below is just a sample of some of my favorite children literature pieces. Enjoy!

We've moved...

We moved into our new house this past weekend. We are so thrilled to be owners of our own home and to have the moving process done with. Thanks to everyone who so graciously volunteered to help, we couldn't have done it with out your help!

Our old place...
Our new place...Moving...

Happy Two Years!

Tomorrow we will celebrate our two year anniversary; time flies!

Weddings!

One of my best friends got married this Saturday! A lot of our weekends are filled with weddings in the summer months and we love it, especially when you know that the Lord has brought two amazing people together to fulfill his purpose as a team. Dru Davis and Janessa Nash were married at a beautiful piece of property just as the sun was setting Saturday night. They could not have asked for better weather. It was so special to be a part of their day and a part of their life together (we are even more excited that they have decided to stay local and are living in Salem; only 20 minutes away!)

Sunny Times...

Heading home tomorrow...too soon!

More fun...

Did we mention that we love summer? These last few weeks have been very busy (perhaps too busy as I don't think we will be able to attend church in Corvallis until the middle of September), but we wouldn't want to miss a thing. This last Friday we went to the beautiful wedding of our friends and Paul's second family Bethany and Danny Nedelisky up in Portland. The time was wonderful, but went by too fast as we then headed back to Silver Falls for some camping with Ashley's family.

Here are a few pictures of our camping trip. Despite some rain on Saturday morning we had a great time hiking, biking, playing games, cooking and playing with our nephews.

Paul and Jacob after a mountain bike ride:

My older sister and her son around the camp fire; he is so much fun!Andrea and Jaden at the falls; he is such a good little boy!

As we entered into August I, Ashley, had to shift gears and started thinking about heading back to the classroom. This summer I was fortunate to be able to sub for my sister at Home Life, Inc. as their Staff Development Coordinator. I have worked for Home Life, Inc. all through college and am sad to have to leave my positions there, but know it is time.

We still have many trips and events to come including the Jeld-Wen Tradition at Sun River, a trip to Tri-Cities for some wakeboarding, a trip to the Running Y and a few more weddings. We have also put an offer in for a house here in Albany and will hopefully be moving in the middle of September. Why Albany? Well, the Albany School District is actually one of the best districts in the state, it means that only one of us has to communte to our jobs, it is close to I-5 making trips to Salem and Portland a bit easier and we have come to find that there are many beautiful parts of Albany that you don't see by just passing through.

We love all our friends and family and appreciate all the time we get to spend with everyone.