Rain, Rain GO AWAY!!!

So we aren't being plagued by tornadoes or hurricanes, nor am I comparing those devastating storms with our current state of affairs, but OH MY WORD! We are drowning up here in Minnesota!  Drowning!  I saw a stat on the news that confirms what we've been feeling lately.  After the world's longest winter (EVER) stretching through alllll of April, we were all ready for some May flowers around here and you know, a little heat.  We experienced approximately 2 days of that and boy were they glorious!  But now it seems we've skipped summer and moved right on into Fall, with temps in the 50's and 60's (70's if we're lucky!) and nonstop cloudy, dreary skies and endless rain. In fact, 27 of the 31 days in May brought some degree of rain , and of the 12 days in June so far, 9 of them have been rainy as well. So please forgive my complaint, but LORD HAVE MERCY!!!  Make it stop!!  Spring, summer and Fall in Minnesota are typically amazing and the reward/motivation to make it through winter.  But this year, I am losing my affection for this state we call home.  It is just downright depressing around here.  When I say I am fighting for some joy, I'm not kidding.  It's a deliberate choice I'm having to make, despite the real struggle in my soul to not pack our bags and hit the road for sunnier skies and a little warmth.  But that is not the hand we've been dealt for now, so we are limping through this Seattle start to summer and doing our best to get outside, even if just for a minute in between storms!

MUST. Choose. Joy.
Must. CHOOSE. Joy.
Must. Choose. JOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, now that I have that off my chest, here are some pictures of what we're up to!

Another week, another wedding! If you're counting, I've had 4 weddings so far in about 8 weeks.  To say I've been busy is an understatement!  I'm currently enjoying a little break, but I have two more to go in the next 5 weeks.  Here are some of the bouquets from the wedding I did last weekend.  It was a small one, but I loved what the bride chose.

 Aren't those lavender roses gorgeous??  

 Bouquets

 Bridal Bouquet.  

Stock, lilies, freesia, and roses. 

It smelled so good!!  

Grad parties.  We've been to like 18 or something in the last 3 weeks and have more to go this weekend  too.  Mostly they are fun, we have so many students in our life we love, but they are exhausting too.  Two weekends ago, Travis and I got to go to a bunch without the kids (who were in Iowa with my parents) which was delightful.  Like a long progressive date even.  But last weekend with the kids?  A different story.  They had their moments of being human and well behaved, but they also had some other moments.  Moments that had their parents sweating, with literal stress and anger being held ever so delicately under the surface until we could get to the car and you know, have some moments of our own.  But you know what, we couldn't blame them really.  We were asking a lot of them and stretching them just a little too thin.  So we tossed our best intentions out the window, went home for naps and a break, and then took turns getting to the parties we could.  And our mantra became, "We're just doing the best we can.  And we're barely doing that."  Thankfully I've been able to make it to all of my Bible study girls' parties and to our family parties for my cousins's kids.  It would help if we didn't like students and didn't want to celebrate with them :) But that's not the case when you've been at a Church for 7 years in student ministry! I love this picture with my Bible study girls!

 Enjoy this little photo booth snapshot from Emily's fun party!  I think it sums up our experience well!

In the middle of all our craziness, Travis ran in a half-marathon on Saturday morning.  You know, because we don't know how to relax or enjoy a morning with nothing to do? Regardless, he ran it and I decided to surprise him and bring the kids to cheer him on at the finish line.  In classic fashion, I barely got us out the door in time and I pulled into the little town it was in, realizing I had no idea where the race was or how to get there.  So with a quick prayer to point us in the right direction, I just drove in a direction I hoped was toward the race, honestly not knowing what I was doing.  Wouldn't you know it, I ended up in the perfect place with just enough time to grab the kids and tell them to start walking toward the finish line.  I had no clue where Trav was or if he was even still running, but we kept our eyes peeled for Daddy and then I thought I'd call him to see if there was some random chance he'd answer.  Amazingly he did answer and low and behold, there he was about 200 yards from us!  We got to watch him run the last mile and heard his name called as he crossed the finish line.  It was so fun for the kids and I think Travis was thrilled that we were there to cheer him on.  It was not an easy course, lots of hills, but he did great and clocked a good time.  He amazes me.  He's like the energizer bunny in so many ways, I keep wondering when he's going to slow down but so far that day doesn't seem to be near!  

He ran with his good friend John and they were blessed with a cool, overcast day.  Maybe the one time lately we've been thankful for clouds!  

We were so exhausted by the end of Saturday and the kids were besides themselves, so I decided to keep them home on Sunday morning so we could just have a low key day to rest and play.  It was definitely a good decision!  We all slept in, Carter and I til 8 and Ava til 9:30!!!  Crazy!  And then we stayed in our jammies most of the day waiting for Daddy to get home too.  After he hit a grad party or two on the way home!  

  Carter was a fan of that plan!  I found him on the porch all curled up with his favorites, listening to the rain :) 

And after some chores of my own, I curled up with my favorites too.  New sharpies, some new magazines and a book by BooMama (which is so good!!!).  It was a great ending to a hectic weekend.  Although I'm really looking forward to Church this weekend, I missed my peeps!  

So in case you were wondering, yes, it rained today today.  Stormed in fact.  Such is life in Minnesota this year.  Here's hoping for some sunshine tomorrow though!