red, white and ...blue crab!!

July is always started off right with the 4th. Last year at this time, Colton has just flown out to take me on our "first date". That weekend we also realized we had matching J. Crew shirts....so we wore them to a 4th of July party with friends. One of my favorite photos of us:

Everyone keeps asking me "hows the weather out there??" "I hear its getting hot!!" well... actually its been quite nice! I think growing up in AZ set my expectations high for it to be considered "bad" weather.

4th of July was beautiful. We started the morning out at Colton's family wards breakfast. Its always fun to meet the old family friends and hear some good stories! They had the breakfast at an outdoor park. Absolutely beautiful! There was a covered area to sit and eat and then a HUGE field for all the kids to play in.

(I still cant get over how beautiful, green and lush it is here)

After that we headed over to some natural waterfalls. A short walk down a dusty trail took us to this (!) :

Stunning!!!!

With a good breakfast and morning walk behind us, we decided to cool down and go see Transformers.. MISTAKE. We both wanted to leave after an hour into it. We wouldn't take anymore of the action shots made just for 3D. 

Luckily leaving the movie early got us on the road to head downtown early! We parked in Georgetown and walked across the bridge over to Virginia.

(That's Georgetown University on the top of the hill)

Colton took me to his "local" spot at the Iwo Jima Memorial near Arlington Cemetery. He found us a prefect place on the grass where the Capital, Lincoln, and Washington Monument all line up! 

We enjoyed some sandwiches, made some new friends by sharing our blanket with this couple from Tennessee and then watched the AMAZING fireworks show!! 

(Yup, I took all of these night photos with my extra steady hand...be impressed)

 

As we headed back to our car with the masses, Colton explained that this is when "they" practice emergency evacuation procedures since there are so many people on the streets. It was nuts. It looked like one of the those end of the world movies with people everywhere and helicopters flying overhead. Defiantly one of my favorite July 4th weekends.

Last weekend one of Colton's Boss had everyone over to his house, near the Chesapeake Bay for a Maryland blue crab cookout!! They bought 220 crabs for us to cook up and eat! Being this was my first time... Colton's friend Mark gave us the rundown on blue crabs and the step by step on how to eat one. 

I LOVED their blue greenish color... Colton told me not to get too attached. Just look at that little guy reaching his arms out for a hug!

But had no problem becoming unattached once they were cooked, kinda messy with the Old Bay seasoning all over them and they had turned red...

I have decided I like to stick to just the legs. The inside is a little to "messy" for my liking. 

Once we had eaten a TON of crab, they grilled up some burgers and hot dogs. We ate some more, sat around and talked and enjoyed the beautiful weather. The whole event started at 2pm. I thought we would be done around 5pm..... it was such a nice time we didn't end up leaving until 9:30 pm! We hung out and talked and ate all afternoon. It was also great to finally meet all of Colton's co-workers and enjoy a beautiful summer afternoon / evening!

Here is Colton (time for a haircut) and his best buds: 

(Mark, Colton, and John)

 I would say it was a very successful - 1st time - Maryland Blue Crab cookout! 

a year of weddings

Its been a great year of MANY friends finding love and getting married. This last weekend Colton and I headed back to the west coast once again to celebrate the wedding of our close friends Tori and Tyler in California.

Friday night started with a wonderful dinner at Andre's in Irvine... fabulous food and beautiful set-up. If you haven't eaten there you should .. soooo good!!

 

Colton gave his best man speech...  and now famous for saying... "I love Tyler... as much as two guys can love each other (pause)... while keeping it cool." ...good save babe :)

 

 



Saturday morning we were up at the Los Angeles Temple by 12:00 noon ...ready for a day of wedding fun.

 

Oh did I mention there were 13 bridesmaids and 13 groomsman..? Talk about wedding parteeee.





Tori looked stunning (minus Colton in the background) in her designer gown... obsessed.

              

After the temple we took more photos on the beach behind her parents home... (look familiar?? Right around the corner is where Colton and I took our engagements!)

The day was topped off with an unbelievable reception at the stunning Canyons in Dana Point. Check out that view! It was defiantly a wonderful day full of family and friends.

Congrats Mr and Mrs Call!!

road trip!

This last weekend we road tripped it to Pennsylvania. I have never seen so many cementaries in my life! we decided its the place people go to die. (No offense to those PA natives out there - we are open to you proving us wrong)

We began the trip singing to Colton's Man crush (the only person in this world I feel like i have to compete with) ...James Otto!

We couldn't help but stop in Lancaster County for a little Amish style lunch. 

This is what everyone dreams their lunch will look like right? Is it weird it came out 5 min after she took our order? Or is that is just good service...?

and of course dessert! 

My first time trying Wet Bottom Shoe Fly Pie...pretty good!

Next up was a quick visit to Hershey, PA. ( The views driving out there were GORGEOUS!)

I would recommend this town for anyone with children under the age of 12. Not so much for 28 year old men. However, you can make your own candy bar which looked pretty cool. Then you walk through the factory and see it in every stage....watching that kept our attention for a little bit.

After that quick stop we hit the road again - this time for the final destination in Reinholds, PA....James Otto concert!!!! 

So imagine a small town in PA. All farm fields no one really around... throw a fire station in that middle of that mix - add all the old people in town and that is what we found waiting for us in Reinholds.

The concert was at this outdoor stage in the back of the fire station. Everyone brought their own chairs and just chilled. When he finally came on there where probably only 20 of us that rushed the stage to be super close....it was very odd - but awesome for us! 

He was AMAZING as expected and exactly how Colton has always talked about him. Colton belted the words to every song. All the little girls around us were quickly looking at Colton more then James... it was cute.

Around 10:30 pm the concert ended and we headed back home. Fun day in PA! 

just a little feathering of the nest

I have had multiple people ask to see the place and what we have done with it so far. Unfortunately, I cant share photos of that just yet.

Basically for the past few weeks we have be organizing, cleaning and painting! Yup, we spent a couple days the past few weeks painting the whole house a dark blueish grey...trust me... it looks goooood.

Colton made a VERY wise investment a few years ago and put in gorgeous medium tone wood floors. So the bones of the place look great!

Here is a little peek into my vision for our place: