2017: A Year for Coming Home

“Where to?” asked Piglet.
“Home, I should think,” said Pooh.
— A. A. MILNE

2017. I don’t know about you, but for me, it was an incredible year. A year of coming home.

And that’s not just because we bought our first house and made it our own; but that’s a defining moment of our year, to be sure… our lives, even. We know we’re ridiculously blessed. We’re abundantly grateful. We both traveled a lot (together and apart), and the best part – the BEST PART – by far?

Coming home.

And speaking of HOME… this is what it looked like on January first of last year. Needless to say, it’s a whole lot warmer and cuter these days.

Anna, one of my VERY best friends, and I kicked off the new year right: a frigid photoshoot at one of our local haunts.

My houseplant kick began when I bought some succulents on sale at Home Depot… sadly, they’re quite dead now (oops), but the rest of the plants I have are still MOSTLY alive.

So far.

February: he stuck with classic roses (WIN) and I made them last for like four weeks (again, win).

Also, PS: our tiny apartment was much easier to keep clean than a house more than twice its size.

March: hubs was gone over my birthday, so I spent the (sunny!) afternoon wandering around downtown and thinking over what an amazing year 23 had been. So far… 24 hasn’t disappointed.

We walked over to our building site almost EVERY DAY. It was amazing to see the progress. AND FRUSTRATING to have to wait on weather (and contractors!).

Thankfully, this year included many coffee dates. Not enough, of course…

When hubs took a work trip to Seattle, I hitched a ride. Caught up on some Vitamin Sea AND met up with some awesome college friends.

lake couer d'alene, idaho — Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Lake trips. Need I say more?

coronado, california — Coronado, California

June brought a whirlwind trip down to San Diego…

TO MEET MY NEPHEW.

Literally another highlight of my LIFE.

MORE COFFEE DATES (yessss).

And yeah… he always wears that hat. Except when he’s wearing the Ford one. Or the John Deere one.

In addition to gaining a nephew, this year I got a SISTER!! Joe and Jess were married in a beautiful churchyard in rural Oregon. So much adorableness went on that day, that I had to make TWO posts about it: here and here.

wedding couple - black and white — Fairfax, Virginia

And these two – a college friend and her new groom – tied the knot in an elegant church wedding that I finally blogged!

washington DC - the capitol — Capitol Hill, Washington, DC

The day after their wedding, I may or may not have scheduled my flight out as LATE as possible: just so I could spent the entire morning walking around DC.

And here’s a trick for you: DO THIS. Go early (early!) on a Sunday morning in July… it gets hot fast, but you get free parking about a block from the capitol. And you can walk everywhere. Trust me. I did. Six miles worth.

When I flew home from DC, we were just a FEW DAYS AWAY from closing on our house. God has the BEST timing.

I would’ve picked sometime closer to our original deadline… but like I said. He has the best timing.

And of course we had to christen the new house with HALO TOP.

leavenworth washington hiking and food — Leavenworth, Washington

And a few days after our house closed, we left on our pre-planned trip to the Olympics for our first anniversary. First anniversary?! Where did the time go?

Our first stop was in one of my favorite places ever. Complete with some hiking and then anniversary burgers.

seattle edmonds ferry — Edmonds, Washington

hurricane ridge, olympic national park, washington — Hurricane Ridge: Port Angeles, Washington

If you ever have the chance to hit up Olympic National Park: GO TO HURRICANE RIDGE. The drive is magical, but the view is even more so.

And for the price of a little sweat and a little hiking, you can get views that are unreal.

Speaking of unreal views… hey, cutie.

Told you it was either that hat or this one.

crescent lake, washington — Lake Crescent, Olympic National Park

Camping ALWAYS means s’mores.

End of story.

sol duc falls, olympics — Sol Duc Falls, Olympic National Park

summer at lake roosevelt — Lake Roosevelt, Washington

Heyyyy, hubs isn’t wearing a hat!

Just cause I like purple.

August brought a five-hour solo road trip… it was long and VERY coffee-and-windows-down-and-rock-music-fueled, but at the end, I got to meet a crazy awesome couple and shoot their Navy wedding in a ferry terminal.

And then another five-hour solo road trip: see what I mean about coming home?!

military wedding in bellingham washington — Bellingham, Washington

But it was so worth it: I NEED to blog this. First look in the grandparent’s back yard… vintage cars… donut cake. It was so dreamy.

military wedding in jupiter, florida — Jupiter, Florida

Heather and Joseph’s Florida wedding was also pretty darn cute: an Army uniform and photos on the beach. Doesn’t get much better, in my book!

Again… may have scheduled my flight the next day for a few hours later so I could soak up one quick beach day on the Atlantic.

mount rainier national park, washington — Mount Rainier, Washington

Another National Park on the way to a friend’s wedding: this time it was Mount Rainier. Again, insane views, amazing mountains… and it was relatively easy to get away from the crazy crowds and find yourself alone with the huge sky (and your hubs, because… bears).

mount rainier, washington — Sunrise, Olympic National Park

*whistles*

sleepy monk coffee, cannon beach, oregon — Cannon Beach, Oregon

We also dropped by my sister-in-law’s tiny beach town on our way south: and she’s the best sharer-of-local-secrets ever. Including this place, which you MUST hit up if you find yourself on the Oregon coast.

cannon beach, oregon — The Beach near Haystack Rock

medical lake senior photography — Medical Lake, Washington

Kicked off Senior Season with Kayla’s lake-at-sunset session. This was a total winner.

And Emily’s Manito Park session — filled with roses and sunshine. Again… WIN.

And the next week, Jade and I got to shoot in Manito again. I didn’t complain one bit.

colville washington engagement photographs — Colville, Washington

THESE GUYS are getting married in just over a month! YAY! For their engagement session, we hiked a short path to a waterfall where they had one of their first dates. Yes.

In September, I started my own piano studio!! My kiddos are all amazing… and being their teacher has been more rewarding than I could imagine.

FALL: I have a love/hate relationship with it. Lovely colors… but Fall steals Summer.

And I like Summer.

family shoot colville washington — Colville, Washington

My extended family makes great family picture practice. Including my niece: who has the best name ever (aka, Hannah).

This family session was the first of manymanymany: golden leaves and all.

most adorable first look ever — Southlake, Texas

The best first look EVER: I need to blog this.

Melissa and Dillon’s wedding was the. most. lovely.

And how about that ring?!

Wrapped up family session season in NOVEMBER: which was freezing and probably not the best idea. Because afterwards I had a cold for a solid six weeks. Maybe there’s no correlation, but… maybe there was.