Keep celebrating!

Michelle and Shawn's wedding was absolutely incredible! Their love shined through in everything they did from the African dancing, drumming, cake cutting to first dance. I am so happy for the them... the night was successful, they planned the whole thing themselves and it was unique and special and totally perfect for THEM. It totally inspired Geoff and I to make our day special and meaningful. Michelle's dress was so beautiful and was made with the lace from my mom's wedding dress and the gold silk that Shawn brought her home from China a few years ago. The dress layed perfectly over her 5 month baby belly! (Not sure if I've even blogged about that.... they are expecting!!!!!! Yeayyyy!!!!!)
My parents rented a house on the beach where we all spent the weekend. The weather was absolutely perfect and the sun was shining on us each day!


Geoff took a dip every morning - he's crazy. He made JJ go with him!

We spent a few hours on Friday setting up at the wedding site! It was absolutely incredible... check out that view!

Not a bad location for our weekend home!

Michelle and Shawn Smolinski!

Michelle learned how to play an African drumming song and played it for Shawn.

This is what we did the next day. I love California!

Let's celebrate!

Last weekend was our first of many celebratory weekends for 2009! Geoff and I flew home to Seattle to celebrate JJ's 30th birthday and also the arrival of their new baby boy! Their friends threw them a great shower - of course, I didn't bring out my camera, but you can see Piper's growing belly here. Mama Abo saved just about everything from our childhood so the weekend was filled with lots of great family memories - how cute is that little baby Abo will wear an outfit or two that JJ wore?!
We also headed up to the island for cake tasting with our dear family friend Laurette who will be making our elaborate and delicious cake for our wedding! The other big project this weekend was phase I of building our arbor for the ceremony! Geoff was super man and did a fabulous job envisioning what we'll build and together we forged the woods (I mostly took pictures).

My dear friend Patrice and her ADORABLE daughter Payton came over to play for a few hours. We had a nice time catching up and hanging out - I hadn't seen PJ since she was a wee little one, so it was fun to meet her as a big girl! Geoff thinks she's the cutest thing around and was happy to teach her to fly a kite.

On Sunday before we came back to sunny Cali (I'm loving this spring weather!) we stopped at the Mulkiteo Roasting Company where we'll be having our wedding brunch the day after the wedding. The big test was the coffee (the food was unreal!) and from the look that I captured below it seems as though it's a big thumbs up.

This week is a short work week for us because we're off for another Abodeely celebration in Santa Cruz this weekend! Stay tuned for updates on sister Michelle and Shawn's wedding!