{ 4 Day } Weekend Recap

Thursday night after work I drove straight to East Wenatchee to meet this beautiful baby girl.


view additional photos here

Delane gave birth early which made it very convenient for me to take a day off from work and head over for a visit and a photoshoot. We spent half of the day in our pj's hanging out around the house figuring out new shot locations, etc. I prefer natural light (no flash) newborn photos and their house was ideal with beautiful sunlight coming in through all of the windows. As I've mentioned before, Delane and Kevin's home is so incredibly comfortable and beautiful that I always feel like I'm staying in a luxury hotel when visiting.

I headed out late Friday afternoon, leaving behind beautiful blue, Eastern WA sunny skies for dreary weather on the westside of the state. Friday night we packed up the trailer and preparied for our first Whidbey Island weekend getaway with friends that have made this an annual Labor Weekend festivity. Saturday morning, we caught the 1pm Mukilteo ferry and headed over to Lynne's family cabin in Greenbank. The theme of the weekend was "80s attire only." With that said, Steve and I found some last minute gems at the Value Village in Kent. I had debated about not posting photos of myself as I'm pretty embarassed of both mine and Steve's attire, but figured it had to be shared. As unattractive as the "mom jeans" were they were actually quite comfortable - ha! The two days at Whidbey were a blast and to top it off, my partner Devin and I took home the trophies for going undefeated in the weekend sporting activities.











Sunday morning we caught an early ferry with the rest of the group, hurried home, and left again for Maddy's 1st birthday party. I haven't attended many first birthday parties, but it's always so cute to see how the kids react to their cake and all of the guests. Per usual, Jenny prepared some excellent food and she and Nick threw a great party with friends and family that had traveled as far away as Bozeman to celebrate with Maddy.

Tutu and onesie were both made by Jenny - she taught herself how by watching a video on YouTube - she is quite the crafty lady these days

Maddy was more concerned about how messy she was getting from the frosting than actually enjoying the cake

Hope you all had a safe and enjoyable Labor Day Weekend!

{ FOF 12 }

For the past twelve years my cousins, Matt and Mike, have thrown a huge summer camping trip called Friends of Fitch aka FOF. Despite the fact that Matt lives in DC and Mike in Vegas, they continue to make the trip out west each summer for this so perfectly planned camping trip. The first few years were held somewhere in the Palouse, followed by a few years at Kitsap Lake and then Cle Elum. This year it was a held at a huge field in Port Gamble, which is about 10 minutes north of the Kingston Ferry. Steve and I drove over Friday afternoon, set up our "Cougar" camp and then caught up with friends and relatives we hadn't seen in a while.

On Saturday, Steve and I were bad FOF'ers and left the camp spot (and huge sloshball game) and went out exploring. First stop, Port Gamble where there was a car show going on, which of course made Steve very happy. Next, we continued north over the Hood Canal bridge and walked about Port Townsend - I've been there before, but I think it's probably been 20 years. After some ice cream and a few antique shops, we continued on to Fort Worden. This stop was quite nostalgic for both of us as we used to camp/rent cabins with our families at Fort Worden when we were kids. After this fun day of touring around a part of the state that we rarely visit, we headed back to camp in time for dinner and the flip-cup tournament. The weekend was a lot of fun and I'm already looking forward to FOF 13.

Main street - Port Gamble

Fort Worden


Looking north from Fort Worden towards Whidbey Island

Emily, Cousin Shannon and me

On our drive back home on Sunday, we stopped by my aunt and uncles house in Indianola, went to the little country store, got lunch and ate out on the Indianola dock. I used to spend my entire summers in Indianola and now with how busy we are, we only get back a couple of times a year, but I still enjoy showing Steve my grandparents old house and walkng around on the beach.

This photo shows just one of the many reasons why my weekend was so fabulous...

My wonderful/handy husband purchased a propane shower and outdoor camping shower tent, knowing how pleased I would be with a warm shower on a weekend camp trip. Seriously worth every dime!

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.