Independence Celebration, Lunch Dates, & 8yrs?!

Fourth of July weekend was pretty low-key, and I'm glad we chose not to go to one of the base concerts/firework shows. I would have been outside all day long and outside food/drinks were not permitted so we would have spent a ton on water and snacks just for me! Instead we went to Kailua Beach in the morning until early afternoon, we managed to get a parking spot relatively close to the boat-ramp and walked the short distance to the beach. Evidently some people had camped overnight to ensure their spot on the beach! There were tents, grills, etc. Pretty crazy. We soaked up some sun, ate snacks, and floated around on our pool floaties from the sandbar trip. We grabbed some "patriotic shave ice" from Muddy Waters Cafe on the way home. I had Blue Vanilla, Lychee, and Summer Strawberry - delicious! We all took showers, rested, I decorated the cookies I had baked the night before and prepped the house for the BBQ. After everyone had eaten we walked down to Ft. Hase beach to set-up our chairs to view the fireworks from Kailua bay, then we ended the night back at our house making s'mores.

Last week I got to hang out with Taylor, it had been far too long, considering she only lives on the other side of the island! We met at the Whole Foods Cafe, enjoyed catching up, then decided to walk down to Island Yogurt for a cool sweet treat on a warm summer day. While we were there we realized little Adair and I were wearing the same shorts! She's 1yr old and I was nearly 6mo pregnant, so we had a good laugh and made sure to snap a photo. Both of us only have a year left on island, so I hope we get more opportunities to meet up!

Finally at the end of last week, Quinn hit his 8yr mark in the Marine Corps. I  picked up his uniforms from the tailor shop after his new service stripes had been put on... it was pretty crazy to think about... A little over 7yrs ago my cousin introduced me to a goofy 19yr old version of him, we "dated" living on opposite sides of the country, almost 5yrs ago I promised to stand by his side in front of our family and friends, we've lived in 3 homes in 2 states, gone thru 2 deployments and multiple training separations, and later this year we will enter parenthood together. It's quite amazing to see how God has and continues to guide and shape our life together.