Summer Visit From Grandpa

Visits in the summer are LIFE!!! We were so blessed to have a visit from grandpa last week!  It was a blast!  Since my job is a little bit more flexible, I was able to spend extra time with him!  We enjoyed time at Stauvie Island, had lunch by the water and even found a tavern in the middle of the forest one day!

We were also able to visit my brother-in-law, sister-in-law and their sweet kiddos out at Whisbey Island! It was so nice to spend some much needed time with family!  Living far away from our Texas family has been tough so getting a chance to be with family was such a blessing!  Here are some precious moments from that visit!

Grandpa stayed there and spent some time with his other son and hubby and I took the ferry back from the island and oh how fun that was!!  The ocean is certainly my happy place!

What I'm Loving Wednesday - Weather, Happy Place and Family

I'm loving the beautiful weather here in Washington the past couple of days. It's normally rainy (which I DO LOVE) but the sunshine and spring atmosphere has been amazing as well!!!!

I'm loving that I have a supportive husband who took me to find my happy place this past weekend. My heart was hurting due to the death of a family member. We cross the St. John's bridge at least two times a week, so he decided to take me to explore the area. One of his friends from work told him there was a little park under the bridge. Indeed there was and indeed it was beautiful and indeed.....I found my happy place.

What I'm loving the most is God's amazing grace and peace. We lost Steve Reese this past weekend and it broke my heart. However, I know Steve is finally resting and in peace and that brings me joy. Thank You Jesus for loving him!

High Five For Friday - It's All About Family

High Five For Friday Number One:

Pictures of these three back home in Texas.

I miss those faces so much! It was heart warming to see them all in one picture!

High Five For Friday Number Two:

Jobs galore.... the good thing about living in a big city are all the job options. I'm getting ready to get back to work. I LOVE being home and being able to maintain my home (er, kinda maintain my home). Well, define maintain.......

I love being home but I'm ready to get back to life outside of our apartment! 

High Five For Friday Number Three:

Long conversations with my sissy...... Love!

High Five For Friday Number Four:

Exciting things in the Addis family happening! Woot!

High Five For Friday Number Five:

Tomorrow my parents celebrate their first year of marriage!!!!!! WEEEEEE!

The Addis Family Move

January was a crazy month for the Addis clan!! Darin accepted a job offer in Portland, OR!!! Thus our journey to packing and moving began!

On January 11th, Darin hopped on a plane to Portland, OR to interview, solidify things and find us a home and I hopped in my car and drove to Bentonville, AR! I visited with some friends and went through my storage unit. It was nice to see my friends again! I have missed them dearly!

Then I made a stop in Oklahoma to visit my sissy!!! We had lunch and some awesome sister time!!!

The days following were chaotic, busy, exciting, nerve wracking, joyful and HOPEFUL!!! Last year Darin and I started our year with loss. This year we started it out with hope and excitement to a new beginning! I'm thankful for the family and friends that surrounded us in our last days in Texas!! We love you guys and miss you all like crazy!!!!

We left Lubbock on January 22nd and arrived in Vancouver, WA January 25th. The move took us four days and three nights. It was the hardest thing I have ever done! It was an adventure, it was awesome to see so many different places, it was scary to drive through so many different weathers but it was freeing! I didn't know I had it in me to do such a move!!! I'm thankful for God's Hand on us....He protected us and kept us in peace! I got to see so many places for the first time and added five states to my bucket list of seeing all 50 states in the USA! We also spent an evening in Vegas with my brother and sister-in-law! It was SO much fun!

When we drove into Portland, I knew the decision we had made was the right one. God confirmed this with the beauty He has created.

We have enjoyed ourselves these past couple of weeks! I miss my family and friends dearly but I'm thankful for technology and I get to FaceTime, Skype and video conference with them!!!

Holiday Fun and Love

I truly enjoyed this holiday season! Hubby started off our HollyDay season with an early Christmas gift! Meet Holly Tacos Addis.....yes, her name is Holly Tacos. I picked her first name for obvious reasons and hubby was given the freedom to pick her middle name and he picked.....Tacos. Oddly, the name fits her! 

I then kicked off Thanksgiving with my Devoted Women Life Group with our annual Friendsgiving dinner! We had a black dress and pearls girl's night and had SO MUCH FUN!!! I adore these gals so much! 

Before heading to El Paso for Thanksgiving, I enjoyed some quality time at Holiday Happenings with my best friend from Junior High, Margo! We did some talking, taste testing and SHOPPING!!!!!!

The hubby and I then headed on to El Paso to spend it with family! That was SO much fun! We spent time with my sweet mother-in-law and really enjoyed spending our first holiday with hubby's side of the family and sweet Holly got to meet her cousin Copper!

Upon returning from El Paso, some of my lovely friends volunteered with me at the Scholastic Warehouse to collect books for my Christmas Library Reading at Mahon Library! We earned $200 dollars.....AND we had a blast doing it! 

The next weekend, I read to children at Mahon Library! We had so much fun and each child got to take a book home! My sweet friend Crystal led us in Christmas carols and the kids LOVED it so much! It was truly a fun morning!!!

I can't forget to tell you about the night before my reading.... pajama movie night with the girls!!!!!

December 14th, I said my "see ya laters" to co-workers and volunteers as the 14th was my last day working on staff at Trinity Church! It was a bitter sweet day as I have a HUGE passion for Life Groups and ministry BUT, God is moving my husband and I into a new season and it is time for me to focus on home, marriage and most importantly God. The busyness was taking me away from Him and even though I was working in ministry, sometimes I felt so disconnected and far away from Him. This next season will be a season of healing and restoration! I can't wait to see what He has in store for Darin and I! He will never ask us to let something we love go unless He has something even more amazing in store! 

The next day, I took hubby on a SURPRISE date!!!!! A surprise viewing of Star Wars Rogue!!!!! He LOVED IT! Wife points were earned! 

Our next stop was an Ugly Christmas Sweater on Friday night at our neighbor's place! Talk about FUN!!!! Hubby got SUPER festive with his!

That following Sunday I was blessed to be a part of Her Legacy's Mommy and Me Tea Party! I was asked to play Snow White and I'm so glad I said "yes"! Talk about a blessing! We got to love on kiddos and make them feel like princesses!!!!! It was SO MUCH FUN! Not to mention I got to do this with two of my best friends, Dilyn and Darcy AKA Sleeping Beauty and Pocahontas!

The next Tuesday, we celebrated Margo's birthday with dinner and drinks and really enjoyed the girl time and enjoyed celebrating this sweet girl!!!

The next day, I had my last Christmas Library Reading. I was a little sad to be reading my last Christmas story but I made sure to enjoy the moment!!! 

The next night we helped pack a Uhaul up for one of our Devoted Women who moved to Dallas the next morning. A bitter sweet moment....it was sad to say "see ya later" but I KNOW God has amazing things ahead for her!!!

Then finally, CHRISTMAS!!!!!! It was my first Christmas to not have to work since being married so I really enjoyed the weekend with hubby! We have spent so much time together this holiday season that my heart is just fluttering with so much happiness and joy!!!!! We haven't spent this much time together in our whole marriage! God knew what He was doing when He asked me to let go of my job! Being a wife is SO much fun!!! I feel like I'm JUST now being able to really enjoy it! Thank You Jesus!!!!

As you can tell, we had a VERY BUSY Holiday season but it was SO MUCH FUN!!!!! So many memories were made with amazing family and friends.... and so many exciting things in store for us!!! I can't wait for a NEW YEAR!!!!!