Five Years and Counting.

I can't believe its been FIVE years since the day that this wonderful man asked me to share forever with him.  We've had a lot of ups and downs, we've had a lot of trials that could have easily torn us apart, but we've stuck through it.

Our current major goals are to pay off our property and build our home.


I know I'm a little behind on the blog but to say we've been busy might be an understatement.  Nonetheless, we've had fun and here is what we've been up to this summer.

Lets back up a little.  End of March I got an email from my boss saying that I was finally getting my job back.  I can not tell you how excited I was.  My old boss had said "maybe everything happened for a reason".  I truly believe it did.  Our faith in Heavenly Father grew so much as we went back to a single income, now with two kids.  I got to spend the first three and a half months of my daughters life building a bond with her. 

Back in April, not only did I go back to work for a short time, we also started back at it with my craft business.  Its been three years since we did much so we pretty much felt like we were starting from scratch.  Along with a new start came a new name...Driftwood Beach Crafts.  One thing we'd wanted to do for a long time was candles but at the first market we went to four years ago, the vendor next to us was selling candles and we didn't feel right being competition to her. Now that we were in a different area, we felt like it was something we needed to do.

We spent the months of April and May running test after test on candle after candle.  We wanted to have a high quality candle that burned well.  In the month of June we started producing products.

 

At first we attempted to set up our tent in our parking lot on the busy weekends but it didn't work.  People were more concerned with driving down to the main event down on the strip.  We decided we needed to build up our stock and start taking our business to markets again.  It was exciting, and yet I was a little nervous again.  

Our first event was the Ol' Fashioned 4th down at the museum.  Originally I was supposed to be headed down to Oregon for my cousin's wedding but things started falling through left and right up here and they needed people to step up and help so that's what I did. In turn, they gave me a booth space for free.  I coordinated the vendors and their spaces.  We went from having five vendors, to 12, to 15...FIFTEEN, the day of.  Overall, things went well even though we had a few hiccups. 

Here are some pictures from that day. 

Luke and our GIANT flag.

Our little booth.  Our sign is sideways because we were set up differently to start with. 

 Our awesome (and oh so patient booth neighbor) giving Luke a glitter tattoo.

 Ever since pirate days, Luke has been obsessed.

He was so curious because it was shiny in the sun.

It was a great day and our candle sales went well.  It was a great event and we will be doing it again next year.  Once the day was over, we backed up our booth and dropped everything at the office.  It was late enough and we were tired so we decided to drive down early the next morning.  

The next morning my alarm went off bright and early.  I got out of bed and rotated a load of laundry.  All of a sudden I heard this horrid noise out front.  I poked my head out the door to see a car sitting across the street with the hazards on.  I knew we had to get moving but I also felt like I needed to help whom ever it was.  After talking to Alex for a second, we determined it was a lady out there that hit something.  I threw on a sweat shirt and ran out to help.  When I got out to the road she was sitting in her car on her phone.  I waited till she was done and then I went over to talk to her.  She said she hit something and couldn't move in either direction.  I got down on hands, knees, and eventually my stomach to find an old rusted out muffler lodged under her car. I went and got an eight foot long 2x2 and tried to move it but it wouldn't budge.  She found her jack and we managed to wiggle it out a little at a time, just as her husband arrived.  She whispered to me as I was crawling around on the ground "please don't let him help, he's not well, but don't tell him that.  I just didn't know who else to call".  I quietly said "I won't" as I push it out.  At this point I could have easily said that I'm too busy or on too much of a time crunch to help but I just had the feeling that everything would be okay. 

We did push it making it to the wedding but we got there JUST in time.  It was beautiful and I'm so happy for my cousin and his new Bride.  They were both beautiful and the song he sang for her was wonderful.  Here are some of the shots that I got...

 Tuvya was so cute.  Mitchel was going to help carry the sign but he wasn't feeling well.  Tuv did such a great job.  "BRO-BRO, Here Comes Your GIRL".

Here comes the bride.  Michelle's dress was so beautiful and her smile was radiant.

 Father waiting to give away his daughter. 

 Alex had written a song a while back not knowing just how well it would fit.  Michelle requested that he sing it for their wedding. 

You may now kiss the bride...
Mr. & Mrs. Alex Jordan

After the ceremony we all went up to the lodge for refreshments. 

 

The gift I made for them as they start their life and home together!

 

The next day we went out to 'GGma's' after church for a yummy lunch.  After lunch we went outside to set off fire works.  His favorite this year...the sparkler.

Daddy covering Kaylee's ears.  Gotta love the chubby cheeks.

 

 I love my camera and I'm still learning.  The farm is one of my favorite places to take pictures.  It is where I spent a lot of my childhood and I love nature.  The sky was blue and the moon was out. 

Since we got home in early July, we started making a lot of candles and getting ready for a few different markets. First we started out with the flea/farmers market hosted by our local robotics club.  Its been great getting to know the parents and the kids.  

In the process of us loading one day, not only did Kaylee figure out how to crawl, she also figured out how to pull herself up on brother's wagon...ohhhh boy!

After two weeks there we went to the Saturday Market in Ilwaco.  We did okay down there too but we've come to the conclusion that doing smaller markets is a better option for us.  

We ended up going back to the market hosted by the robotics club's market again this last Saturday.

While summer is coming to an end, we still have a couple more markets/events we're planning on doing before I start teaching again in October.