why so serious?

we all could use a reminder from time to time to not take life too seriously.

these little fur balls were that reminder for me today.

"win the day"

will and i have adopted a new motto.
"win the day"
(we borrowed it from his favorite college football team, the oregon ducks.)

we have so many long-term/bigger goals: get our degrees, raise a family, travel the world, etc.
sometimes focusing on accomplishing these makes me feel like i'm hardly making any progress at all.
the key is making smaller, daily goals that build up to the big ones.
that's where we can feel the biggest improvement happening. and not go crazy.
some of my daily goals lately have been to stay ahead on my homework and cook a meal that day.
these may seem minor and silly, but hey i get them done each day.
we're building stepping stones to great things and i can't wait to see where we're at in 5 years!

a lesson in marriage

last night will and i took turns telling each other things that we appreciate about the other.

there was lots of cuddling, laughs, and kisses involved. hee hee
i think it was a much needed talk for both of us and helped strengthen our marriage even more.

sometimes it's easiest to point fingers and say "you need to fix this" and "it bugs me when you..."

but the best way to bring out the good in eachother is by building one another up.

when i know will appreciates something i do, i take pride in it and make extra effort to keep doing it.
mawwiage. it's a beautiful thing.

roughin' it

last night we went camping with friends. it was lots of fun and junk food ha.

boy did it get COOOOLD! we are so glad we brought max along to snuggle up with.

he did great for his first time in the wild. we're excited to take him again next summer.

our friends zach and roxy brought their two huskies so it was fun to see them interact together.

there was a big, bright full moon and nobody around us for miles it seemed.

it was a great end to another fun summer with the gang.

 our new friends cassie and kyle who were totally awesome carpool buddies.

it's nice to have more friends living out west by us!

 mike and erika's hammock of love.

 needed more fire wood. paul bunyon came to the rescue!

 max loves everyone and everyone loves max!

we're so blessed to have such a good group of friends.

i think it's so cool that will's best friends from high school are still always wanting to get together.

everyone has married an awesome wife and the group just keeps expanding.

pretty soon we'll all have little munchkins running around on these campouts!

crazy to think about... life doesn't seem to slow down!

success is...

finally getting the first picture ever of all 3 dogs sitting still in one place!

aren't they just the cutest guys around?

"handle with care"

sometimes i wish everyone would just wear labels on them.

not with their name written on it, but with what they're feeling.

would people take a second to have a conversation with someone

that is wearing a tag that reads "lonely"?

would there be a hush in the room when somebody with a 

"lost my child" tag walks in?

what would be the reaction to a "just found out i have cancer" label?

many people don't wear their heart and emotions on their sleeve.

please... in all that you do and say,

try your best to be kind and patient with the people around you.

you never know what somebody might be dealing with.

hugs,

kari

the california adventure

we had so much fun in cali! 

i'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

 this little girls face gets me everytime haha.

 she was too cute.
she kept giving me compliments,
so naturally i like her. ;)

will grabbed tigger's nose.

 tigger got him back.

then we all became friends.

whip-lash.

cutest preggers lady ever.

special thanks to liz, hayley, and melinda for taking these.

i was pretty bad at taking pictures on this trip...

7th inning stretch

will's having fun with his softball team.

so far they've had 2 games against pretty tough teams.

they are still getting used to playing together,

but are doing great and having a good time.

last game i jumped in since some guys were out of town.

i did pretty bad haha, but hey i got on base at least!

(against all boys i might add... pretty proud of myself for that.)

anyway, i'm glad will has another hobby and i get to cheer him on.

 i was obviously standing on a tree stump to be his height.

oh and the high bun helps too. 

yesterday we went to a Bee's game during the day.
it was our first together (my first ever) and a lot of fun!
 i'm bummed that will's face is in the shadows in this picture...

it was just so dang bright out behind us!

tomorrow we leave for disneyland with will's family.
we're so excited! many pictures to come!