Since I'm in the midst of finals [and need a reason to procrastinate], I thought that I'd make of list of things I'm looking forward to about this summer...

• Camping with my sister and her beautiful fambam
• Practicing my photography skills
• Celebrating Bryan's grandparent's 6oth anniversary in Monterey. Sixty years of marriage! How beautiful is that?!
• Sewing summer dresses out of sheets with my friend, Sara
• Spending a week houseboating on Lake Shasta with pretty amazing high school kids
• Renting a beach house: a lot of our friends are movin' on to bigger and better things this fall, so as a last hoorah we rented a beach house this July.
• Celebrating a full year of marriage with the best guy I know
• And come August, I'm training to become a trauma chaplain. There's a lot of places that could take me, but I'm hoping it will mean working with Courage House

As these events unravel, I'll be sure to update and give more details.

However, if I don't you can be sure that it's because I'm enjoying

summer far too much to be on the computer.

Cherries

Hey, Bryan here!

So it's really exciting out at the farm right now because spring has sprung! There are finally leaves and greenery everywhere! We've been having to water things because the rains have stopped; however, the first fruit of the season is here.....CHERRIES!!! We have 4 varieties out at the farm and the "Early Sweets" are living up to their name, and as soon as those are done we'll move to the next then the next.... at least that's the plan. This year we've been having trouble with the spotted wing drosophila. These little fruit flies are a brand new pest in california that someone snuck past the border checkpoints. They're making a mess of cherry production because they don't have any real predators here and are hard to control, luckily this first variety didn't get hit too hard yet though, so we have been munching away! Here are some pictures Sam took of them...

Homework is far better done in a hammock

I had an incredible amount of stats homework last friday and Bryan suggested that it wouldn't be so bad if I did all of it in a hammock out at the farm he works at. And let me tell you, four hours of statistical equations are far more enjoyable from a hammock in the middle of a cherry orchard than anywhere else ever.

Bryan went off to work and when I wasn't doing stats I was taking pictures, watching geese curiously approach my hammock [only to be startled that a human was in it], and napping.

B setting my hammock up

Bryan off to work

It was such a beautiful day. After work, Bryan took me tubing down the pretty part of Putah Creek. I say "pretty" because not all of Putah Creek is pleasant enough to raft down. The water was freezing so it was comical the two of us trying to stay dry on a tiny tractor tire of a tube.

I woke up to these flowers by my bed the other day. It was a reminder of how sweet and thoughtful my husband is and how another summer is approaching. Last summer, we were both so busy with planning the wedding and doing school that it flew by so quickly. This summer, however, will be different. It will be our first one as a married couple--which means lots of new adventures for us: bike rides on warm summer nights, picnics, festivals, and camping. Not to mention our one year anniversary! Can you believe it's coming so quickly?! [If we can afford it, we really want to go to Portland. We hear it's amazing!]

Slacklining Love

We also did some slacklining at this pizza shindig. So yes, yes this weekend was awesome.

Human Polo. Have you ever heard of it?

Last weekend, Bryan and I went to our friends' house for a make-your-own-pizza night. It was amazing because [one] my friend Joseph and I made a pesto pizza that rocked our world, [two] the weather is perfect for joyful backyard occasions with friends, and [three] we played Human Polo. It looks a little something like this...

The game only lasted a good ten minutes due to lack of oxygen from laughing!

It's pretty easy to play. You can look up the rules online or if you've ever seen regular horse polo, it's the same thing--except with humans.

Special thanks to Sarah and Alyssa for documenting all the fun!