Brie & Massimo's Wedding { Plain, WA}

There was nothing plain at all about the beautiful town of Plain, WA. This tiny town, home of the gorgeous Mountain Springs Lodge and 13 miles north of Leavenworth is breathtaking. The winding road down to Plain actually reminded me a bit of driving through New Zealand. Brie and Mass chose the perfect place for their wedding and every seemed to run smoothly, minus the bee sting on Mass' ring finger moments before the ceremony. Brie looked stunning and Mass looked quite dapper himself. The entire evening was so much fun. We danced the night away and (possibly) consumed one too many beers, glasses of wine and/or pulls off the bottle of Fireball.

Congratulations Brie and Massimo! Now that you're (hopefully temporary) residents of Southern California, please don't forget us up in WA and visit often.




























Table 20 - Pass the Fireball!

Wexler and Kyle take a trip back in time down the Oregon Trail

August Discount { Heads-Up }

I have quite a bit of photo editing and blogging to catch up on, but had to post about the...

:: 20% Off @ Packaging Specialties ::
:: Redmond ::
:: Every Tuesday ::
:: During August ::

I was happily surprised, to learn about this deal today, when I stopped in there today to buy gift wrap, boxes and ribbon. I'm sort of obsessed with wrapping gifts. Sometimes I think I might enjoy wrapping the gifts more than actually giving them.

... Skipper Pup ...

Introducing, the newest member of the Rinabarger family - Skipper the adorable Labradoodle! This is my in-laws pup, not us quite yet...unfortunately. Below are a few photos that I took this past weekend while we were out at Harstine Island. He's ten weeks old and (fortunately) loves visits to the property and Puget Sound as much as we do.

Welcome to the family Skipper-Doo!

:: Happy 93rd Birthday ::

To my adorable Grandpa

Me, Grandpa and Megs in Feb. '09

I'm looking forward to celebrating with Grandpa tonight, alongside 15 of our family members from my Dad's side at my Grandpa's condo complex on Mercer Island.

As I know my Grandpa is not a savy internet user, I would say its a safe bet he won't see this post, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm thinking about him today and the wonderful life that he has lived.

Happy Birthday Grandpa - We Love You

Downtown { Seattle } Sailing Series

Last night I participated in my very first Elliott Bay Downtown Sailing Series and could not have requested better weather than what we had out on the Sound. I guess most sailors would have wished for better winds, but I was perfectly content sitting on the bow of this 47' Moody sailboat (apparently, there are only three on the west coast and they're all at Elliott Bay Marina) taking in the views. The smell of Puget Sound was I scent I missed for years, but last night it was in full effect. I've decided that this scent plus a BBQ is a perfect combination. I had a great time with Steve, our friends Lil, Kelly, Amy and Peter (it's his dads boat aka Captain Andy). Steve, as well as my friends Kris and Diggy, take part in Duck Dodge every Tuesday and then attempt to take in as many of the Sailing Series events as possible and I just don't get how they do it - it's a lot of work for a weeknight.

Montana { Recap }

I can honestly say that the 4 days that I spent in MT was one of the best vacations I've ever experienced. Minus the fact that Steve was not with me, I had a wonderful time catching up with my college roommate Ali, exploring Bozeman, taking a lot of photos and drinking in the sun.

Thursday we spent the day relaxing at Ali's parents pool with the kids and then that night we headed to downtown Bozeman for Music on Main, drank a few beers and had a great dinner at Montana Ale Works.



The spectacular view from Ali's parents front door





Couldn't pass on a shot agains this wall on Main Street so Ali and Jenny happily agreed to be my models



Really excited for dinner - the entire sequence was about 15 photos - ha!





Nick and Jenny
On Friday, Jenny and I went for a hike up to Grotto Falls which is about 15 miles up Hyalite Creek Rd and just outside of Bozeman, went for a long walk with Maddy, did a photoshoot with the Weedin Family and the Johnson Family (I'll post photos from that over at Head Over Heels soon), had a BBQ at Jenny's in-laws house with friends and then enjoyed a few beers at the Cannery.









The aperture was off a bit on this shot, but I love the face that Maddy is making



Jenny, Ali and their girls - Maddy and Olivia



Brady and Maddy - best friends
Saturday morning we got up early - Jenny and I headed over to her friend Paige's house for my first maternity shoot. As you'll see from the photos, this couple are gorgeous and made the session very easy and quite enjoyable for me. After spending about an house with Paige and Jon, Nick picked us up and we headed up to his family cabin at Canyon Ferry Lake (just outside of Helena and reminded me of Lake Chelan). There were a total of 13 of us tht went up there for the night and we had to make sure that the first stop along the way was at the Bunkhouse Bar for a "blue shot" - it's a tradition so of course I had to participate. Once up to the cabin, we spent the day boating and relaxing. That night we all BBQ'ed at Nick's cabin and then went to the local bar called O'Malley's - we basically had the entire bar to ourselves so we played 2 hours of flip cup...sitting down...in giant leather office chairs...bizarre...but so much fun! We then danced until closing time, walked through the neighbors yard and were home in about 1 minute.



Nick, Jenny, Tara, Tyler and Shooooooeeeeee





Dusty wakeboarding



The guys playing games



This is the life
Sunday we went boating again, layed out and then it was time for me to head to the Helena airport for my flight home. The trip was an aboslutel blast and I can't wait to go back. I'm hoping that Steve and I can make this trip to Bozeman an annual trip. Mark my words: If I win the Lotto, I will be purchasing a second home in Bozeman.

{ 35 Years of Marriage }

And I swear they are just as in love today as they were 35 years ago

Mom and Dad - Happy 35th Wedding Anniversary! I'm so thankful that you two have each other. I appreciate and respect the love that you have expressed towards one another and to Megan and I over the years. Cheers to many, many, many more years of marital bliss.
I Love You

* A Day at the Gorge and an Evening with Coldplay *

Saturday morning we met up with our friends in North Bend and headed out on the road to the Gorge. We knew it was going to be a hot day, but didn't truly realize how hot it was going to be until we set up our campsite and sat out in the sun. We each lasted just a few minutes before it was time to crowd under the tent for some games. We also didn't anticipate the crazy windstorm that came through the Gorge around 5am and lasting until we were out of there at 8am. All in all the trip was a blast. At some points of the day and night, I felt that I was getting too old for the entire Gorge experience, but having the trailer defnitely makes it all a bit more enjoyable. I'm sad I didn't bring my camera with me to the concert because the sunset, stage and crowd were one of the best I've ever seen at the Gorge, but below are a few photos from our day.
This was my first time seeing Coldplay live - they put on quite the memorable show. Chris Martin is a true concert performer and rocked out the entire night. At one point, he ran up to a stage in the center of the grass hill and sang Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean." I just checked out their twitter page and one of them posted this "Ok, this is hands down the most gorgeous venue (Gorge) on earth." - I couldn't agree more.

Lauren and Shawn

Steve

Megs and me

Lynne and Joey

My parents (who bought our concert tickets for us as Steve's birthday present) along with their friends Jan and Dan - thankfully they did not camp and stayed in Euphrata instead, otherwise I would have never heard the end of it.

The newlyweds preparing for a round of beer pong

Sunday afternoon, Steve and I saw the new movie "Public Enemies" with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale - we both loved it { lots of action plus a love story }. It was a bit long, but well worth it. Plus, I could stare at Mr. Depp all day long, I swear this man does not age - he looks just about the same now as he did during his "21-Jump Street Days."