A week late...

The month of June has been and will continue to be an extremely busy month for us! Every weekend is reserved for some big event and in the last week I have been in 3 states for different happenings. First I'll catch up with last weekend and hopefully I'll get pictures of this past weekend's party before next weekend. So last weekend, my parents drove through and picked me up as we went up to my cousin, Gwen's wedding in San Francisco. There are 3 girls belonging to my dad's sister... Two of them are red heads and unmistakably sisters and the other, a brunette. The two red-heads always told the brunette that she was from outer space since she looked so different from them.. Then there's me and my brother, which has led me to believe that our parents switched Gwen and Travis at birth since it's obvious that Trav is supposed to be in their family of red heads and Gwen and I look more alike- other family members get us mixed up from a distance. So anyway- the wedding was beautiful and very traditional. It was an Orthodox wedding, which is rich in symbolism and everything happens 3 times... Rings blessed three times, crowns switched three times, walk around the alter three times.. you get the picture. Then the reception was unlike any I've been to, with a mingling of cultures. Gwen's new husband, Hani was an immigrant with his family in the late 70's from Palestine. They are amazing people and have done everything to make a life for their family and proudly call the US of A home! So the music was a mixture of what I know of as the normal reception music- from "Come on Eileen" to Usher singing "Yeah" and interlaced was traditional Arabian music that actually had a pretty cool beat to move to. It was a whirlwind trip since we drove up, stayed for a day and a half and drove home.

While I was up in Northern California, John was able to get himself into a camping trip with some of our church friends. They headed up to Fossil Springs which is up north of Payson, AZ. Typically John and I enjoy the backpacking trips, where we pack everything we need and hike into a secluded area where we can enjoy nature at it's finest, seeing not a soul but the people we hiked in with. This time was more of, what we like to call car camping. They set their tents up in designated camp sites with tons of other campers around, but based on the area John came back with nothing but rave reviews! He described the water as crystal clear and by the pictures I saw, it looked amazing! He coaxed our dog, Cana to jump off a 7 foot cliff into the water, which apparently was a pretty big hit among all the other campers.

Notice: little dog is in Cana's backpack! haha.