Catching Up: May

Highlights from May:

Hosting/decorating a table at the annual women's tea.  I made flowers by hand out of tissue paper and fabric (except for the baby's breath - now that would really be something!)

My "Momma B" was my guest of honor at my table.

I made Angry Bird cupcakes for Paul's birthday!  They turned out amazingly and he loved them.  I also bought him some river sandals, a zip up hoodie sweatshirt, and framed a bunch of photos for his office of youth group events.

Each one had it's own expression!

I'm still finding much enjoyment by doing an occasional updo - one of the perks of working with high school girls is doing their hair!  Just one of the many ways in which I love to create.

My 27th birthday (May 25) was probably one of the busiest birthdays I've ever had.  I spoke and sang at a women's brunch that morning, nannied a 2 year old all day, and then attended a fancy dinner for our graduating seniors at youth group.  It's become a tradition and Paul has done a wonderful job of creating a special event for seniors and their families.  30 highly involved graduates attended, along with their families, making it a celebratory evening with about 100 people.  This is the only picture I have on my birthday, and while the day itself was a success, I hope never to have a birthday as busy as this one... ever again!

Paul and I didn't get home until close to 11pm, had to finish packing for our road trip, went to bed at 2, and took a nap so we could wake up and start driving at 4am.  800 miles later...

We arrived at Yosemite National Park!  We met up with Paul's good friend and groomsman, Mike, and his wife, Jen who live in San Luis Obispo.  It was an adventure from the beginning... even before we pulled into the park, we started smelling gasoline.  Sure enough, the camp stove fuel in Paul's bag had leaked, saturating his sleeping bag... so we aired it out the window the rest of the way!

We arrived, Mike and Jen were still struggling to put up their tent because their tent pole broke...

And then, after hiking 7 miles UP, we encountered SNOW!  We found a perfect place to camp on a bluff (snow free) and built a fire to warm up and dry out.  Unfortunately, Mike's hiking shoes were a little close to the fire and they melted.  They melted so badly that he was unable to wear them for the rest of the trip.  We decided to hike back down because we wouldn't let Mike hike through snow in sandals.    Here we are at our campsite, post the shoe-burning episode:

On our way down, it started to rain pretty heavily as we were finishing up our lunch.  Mike kept saying it wouldn't keep raining, which became our joke the rest of the trip, because it actually did keep raining and didn't let up much!  I felt like an oompa-loompa with my poncho on.  Just another reason why it's clear that backpacking is not for the fashion-conscious.

Due to record snow-fall at Yosemite this winter, the waterfalls were absolutely SPECTACULAR!  It was a rush to stand so close to them and we were drenched by the overspray.

My favorite group shot of the whole trip:

When we got to our base camp (day 2), it began raining so hard that we decided to sleep in our cars that evening.  We had recently purchased a used tent from an REI return sale and didn't want to risk getting drenched.  So, after a horrible night's sleep, we woke up to 30-something degrees and a considerable amount of snow right where we had camped the night before!  Check out the snow line:

So we drove into the valley for some day hikes and marveled at more awe-inspiring waterfalls.  Look how small the cars are compared to the waterfall:

We climbed to the top of this thing!

During which, I dropped my camera in the mud so my lens doesn't close anymore.  (hence the frowny face)

But then I was happy to be at the top - and my camera still worked!

Looking over the edge:

I had to capture my lovely camping/hat hair.  Reminds me of Walkabout!

The handsome hubs overlooking the falls in the distance.

On our way home, we stayed at a Bed & Breakfast in Ashland, OR, and visited the House of Mystery, Oregon Vortex to observe the "strange magnetic forcefield."

Here, Paul appears to be much taller than I am...

But when we switched places, I appeared to have grown....

And here is the only bear I saw after camping/backpacking... at a gift shop in Grants Pass.

Next up: highlights from June and July!