Honeymooners

Cade and I had THE best time in Washington/Oregon for our honeymoon. The San Juan Islands were just about as perfect as can be, we ate some incredibly flavorful doughnuts in Portland, hiked a little tiny bit of the giant named Mount Rainier, tested our ability at Lake Seneca then became total tourists in Seattle while exploring Fremont, Ballard and Capital Hill. We came home with several more shirts than what we arrived with and I uploaded nearly 800 pictures when I returned.

I'm not sure the pictures really do any of this justice, but here goes!

The ferry ride to the islands was so beautiful and a little unreal. Growing up in Ohio, I haven't really witnessed this kind of scenery. It's just so beautiful and so untouched.

While the pictures are awesome and you can see these ginormous, beautiful mountains, I also don't really think the pictures do it justice. So, you all should go for yourself and take the ferry from Anacortes to Friday Harbor. It's beautiful and amazing! Plus, you'll be amazed at how big these mountains are and just how tiny you are.

This beach was AWESOME and definitely one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. Just drift wood for miles and I put my feet in the water. I also snatched several neat rocks and Cade and I got a small piece of drift wood to take home.

That mountain, this view... Just, wow!

One more thing - the skies were ridiculously clear and blue THE ENTIRE TRIP. It was perfect!

We saw this lighthouse off the road and decided to go check it out. When we got there we all noticed this little trail from the top of the hill to the bottom where the water was. It was steep (as you can see in this top picture and the one beneath it) but so worth the little trip. I loved watching the water crash into the rocks...

Deceptions Pass was not even describable. I'm not sure what to say on this one!

Doesn't this look Photoshopped? This was our drive from Seattle to Portland. Just a mountain... Chilling at the end of the highway? (Not really, but it looks like it!)

THE TREES! They are SO tall and it's so beautiful!

This hike was insane and I will probably never forget it for as long as I live. It's amazing how much stronger your body is than what your mind thinks... Cade and I probably gave up 8-10 times but kept going. This was kind of worth it to feel eye level with the tops of mountains though. Surprisingly, neither of us were nearly as sore as we anticipated the next day so, win/win!

Seattle Art Museum (SAM) was pretty neat and I LOVED the glass sculptures (more pictures below from the actual Chihuly Glass Garden). As per our usual, we got a magnet to add to our tourist-y collection on the fridge.

This was at the Seattle Aquarium. To be completely honest, we kind of liked the Cleveland one more, but this jellyfish ring-thing was pretty neat. My favorite part for sure!

OKAY, so... On our last day, we were figuring out what we wanted to do before we left to go back to Ohio... We looked at all the suggestions on the internet, checked out the apps, did as much as we could think of until we stumbled upon this place. The price per ticket was a little higher than I wanted to spend but the reviews were phenomenal and person after person made mention about how the ticket price is worth it. So, Cade and I went to check it out. Guys... This place was amazing and knowing this now, I definitely agree. If you are ever in Seattle then you NEED to go to this place. I really cannot stress enough how unique and beautiful it is. You just say "wow" a lot and walk through it another 2-3 times.

So, there it is! Our wonderful honeymoon/vacation. We loved every second of it (besides the traffic from Seattle to Portland, we could've lived without that). I still have a lot more pictures to share (like, hundreds probably) but not enough time today. I can't wait to show you all more!

Until next time - Renee

Life updates!

Thank God for auto-remember password things because there is a good chance that I wouldn't have been able to log back into this thing! 

So, back in April Frankie (the dog) somehow managed to get out of his crate while Cade and I were at work and he decided that his chew toy for the day would be my DSLR. There was definitely yelling, several tears and one bad dog that was in his crate the whole entire evening/night. Totally non-functionable and left for dead was my favorite and most expensive toy. Those things are expensive too so there was no way that I could just go to the store and get a new one. It was something I'd have to save up for which... when planning for a wedding you don't really have an opportunity to save up for anything other than said wedding. Long story short, it was going to be (and was) a while before I could take good quality photo's again.

Fast forward to this past Wednesday (which is in the middle of July) - I had an opportunity to get a new DSLR and I took it! Not only did I get a brand new camera, but I got a better version than my "old" one. I am still in love and taking every chance I get to snap a few pictures. I am mostly thankful that I was able to get my new camera before the wedding/honeymoon! (Plus, Cade and I are going on quite a few trips in the coming months so this is EXTREMELY perfect timing).

Anyway, here are some pictures with my new favorite DSLR. Enjoy!

I have somewhere around 13-14 tomatoes in my garden but have NO clue when to pick them... I'll have to do some research soon because they're getting big now.

Dill! (pickles)

Cade got me a little table-top tripod so I was practicing while he was taking his fish oil vitamins. We took a few pictures just for fun but I actually really liked the quality of this one.

Sir Franklin played ALL day with his buddies (Max &  Brutus) which means he slept ALL evening.

Those puppy dog eyes. Not for long though... Someone turns one next month and according to his vet, that is when they are no longer consider "puppies", but... I don't like that. I think he will no longer be a puppy when I say so.

(this guy is going to be my husband next weekend. Lucky me!)

This was kind of perfect timing. As soon as we got home from our bike trip this little fella was hanging out on the flowers by our door. I hope we see him again soon! I'd like to get some better pictures.

Next weekend is OUR WEDDING (!!!!!!) followed by our honeymoon. I can't wait to share all the pictures. Stay tuned!

Renee

We took a hike!

I think this spring will be more appreciated than any other season change there has ever been. Cade and I were feeling cabin fever to the max and have been wanting to go out and explore. We've also been feeling down lately since we haven't been able to get Frankie all the exercise he needs. SO, we decided to go hiking today and bring him along! We traveled to Peninsula, Ohio and hiked part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I've been there a couple times but that doesn't really matter because every time it's more beautiful than the last! Here are some photo's of our journey!

They're a big deal to me.

Not a single cloud in the sky today!

^^That is me on the very very edge of the overlook. SO high up and such an awesome feeling.

These things were awesome on my feet. Well worth the money if you plan on hiking.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my pictures. Hopefully there are a lot more hiking adventures to come this upcoming spring/summer!

A life is a life and all lives matter.

“Be the change you want to see in the world” – Ghandi

I’m going to try my best to keep this as general and vague as possible without stating a side I agree or disagree with. What I will say is this: There are few things I am truly prejudice to. The biggest one is onions. I HATE onions! I am also not a fan of people who are constantly late to things and don’t even get me started on people who drive below the speed limit (or the exact limit if I’m being honest). I think that directly relates to the way I was raised. I applaud my family for teaching me lessons such as values over skin color/religion. I plan to pass those same values along when I become a parent (in a distant, distant future... Sorry, Mom!)

I understand there are different races and ethnicity and I’ve seen first hand that not everyone will always agree with you. I understand that and I think that is what makes this country great. What I don’t get is why people feel the need to separate themselves from each other to prove a point. Or why we have to create violence and anger, when educated and informative words can fix it. I am not racist. I do not see an ethnic person and feel any sort of negative sense or “danger”. I never have and I pray I never will. I genuinely mean it when I say that I try my hardest to find something good in everyone. I hate what is happening right now. I hate that people lose their lives in ways that might not make sense. I hate that people immediately fear or hate cops. I hate that there were generations before us who mistreated people based on their color/religion. I know not everyone will agree with me, and I understand that.  I think by now we should all understand that there will forever be differences. This world will never agree in unison and people will not always like what others have to say. Please don’t ever stop fighting (in a peaceful way) for what you believe and don’t settle for someone else's values but please, please, please do it with respect to the people around you. If you want silence, show how quiet you can be. If you want happiness, then spread laughter and joy. If you want peace, then be nice, courteous and most of all, treat others how you want to be treated. 

I don’t think my words will reach very far, but I want to turn on the news one day and see a happy story. I want to see us getting along. I don’t want to see segregation happen again. I don’t want this country to get so far out of control that we lose our once respected and “idolized” values. This is a country that allows freedom of speech, NOT freedom of harm and danger to “prove a point”.

That is all I want to say and I appreciate if you read this all the way through. I love that we can all have opinions. I hope people can understand that violence is never the answer and  there is always going to be someone who wants the best for you. Let's rebuild and do it better this time around.